Biology:Cyrtobaltoceras

Short description: Extinct genus of molluscs

Cyrtobaltoceras Temporal range: Ordovician PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Cephalopoda
Order:	†Orthocerida
Family:	†Baltoceratidae
Genus:	†Cyrtobaltoceras Flower (1964)

Cyrtobaltoceras is an extinct cephalopod genus known from the upper Lower Ordovician Fort Cassin Formation at Valcour, N.Y. that is included in the Nautiloid family Baltoceratidae

Taxonomy

Cyrtobaltoceras was named by Flower (1964 who then assigned it to the Baltoceratidae which at that time was included in the Ellesmerocerida. The Baltoceratidae, along with included genera, has since been moved to the Orthocerida.

Morphology

The genotype, Cyrobaltoceras gracile Flower, is based on a small, slender, incomplete, 25 mm long shell with a slight exogastric curvature. Sutures form lobes across the ventral side but go transversely straight across the dorsum. The siphuncle is proportionally large, almost half the shell diameter in width, and lies against the ventral margin.

Retention

The holotype of Cyrtobaltoceras gracile, Reusseau Flower's no. 341, is housed in the paleontological collection of the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science in Albuquerque, N.M (U.S.A)

References

• Fossils (Smithsonian Handbooks) by David Ward

Wikidata ☰ Q5201012 entry