Protetragonites is an extinct genus of ammonoid cephalopods belonging to the family Lytoceratidae. These fast-moving nektonic carnivores [1] lived from the Jurassic period Tithonian age to the Cretaceous period Aptian age.[2]

Protetragonites
Temporal range: from Jurassic to Cretaceous, 150.8–94.3 Ma [1]
Fossil shells of Protetragonites obliquestrangulatum from Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, on display at Galerie de paléontologie et d'anatomie comparée in Paris
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Cephalopoda
Subclass: Ammonoidea
Order: Ammonitida
Family: Lytoceratidae
Subfamily: Lytoceratinae
Genus: Protetragonites
Hyatt, 1900
Synonyms
  • Hemitetragonites Spath, 1927
  • Leptotetragonites Spath, 1927

Species edit

[1]

  • Protetragonites crebrisulcatus Uhlig, 1883
  • Protetragonites obliquestrangulatum (Kilian, 1889)
  • Protetragonites quadrisulcatus d'Orbigny, 1841
  • Protetragonites zuegeli Maisch & Salfinger-Maisch, 2016[3]

Description edit

Shells of Protetragonites species reach a diameter of about 50 millimetres (2.0 in). Shells show few constrictions and a circular or triangular section.[4]

Distribution edit

Fossils of species within this genus have been found in the Cretaceous rocks of Austria, Canada, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Dominican Republic, France, Hungary, Madagascar, Morocco, Poland, Spain, Russia, Ukraine, Western Sahara, as well in the Jurassic of Germany, Hungary and Italy.[1]

References edit

  1. ^ a b c d The Paleobiology Database
  2. ^ Sepkoski, Jack Sepkoski's Online Genus Database – Cephalopoda
  3. ^ Michael W. Maisch; Angélique Salfinger-Maisch (2016). "First record of the lytoceratid Protetragonites Hyatt, 1900 (Cephalopoda: Ammonoidea) from the Upper Jurassic of southwestern Germany". Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Abhandlungen. 280 (2): 183–192. doi:10.1127/njgpa/2016/0574.
  4. ^ Protetragonites

External links edit