Agoniatitida, also known as the Anarcestida, is the ancestral order within the

cephalopod A cephalopod is any member of the molluscan Taxonomic rank, class Cephalopoda (Greek language, Greek plural , ; "head-feet") such as a squid, octopus, cuttlefish, or nautilus. These exclusively marine animals are characterized by bilateral symm ...

subclass

Ammonoidea Ammonoids are extinct, (typically) coiled-shelled cephalopods comprising the subclass Ammonoidea. They are more closely related to living octopuses, squid, and cuttlefish (which comprise the clade Coleoidea) than they are to nautiluses (family N ...

originating from bactritoid

nautiloids Nautiloids are a group of cephalopods (Mollusca) which originated in the Late Cambrian and are represented today by the living ''Nautilus'' and ''Allonautilus''. Fossil nautiloids are diverse and species rich, with over 2,500 recorded species. Th ...

, that lived in what would become

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, and

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during the

Devonian The Devonian ( ) is a period (geology), geologic period and system (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era during the Phanerozoic eon (geology), eon, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the preceding Silurian per ...

from about the lower boundary of Zlichovian stage (corresponding to late Pragian, after 409.1 mya) into Taghanic event during upper middle

Givetian The Givetian is one of two faunal stages in the Middle Devonian Period. It lasted from million years ago to million years ago. It was preceded by the Eifelian Stage and followed by the Frasnian Stage. It is named after the town of Givet in ...

(between 385 and 384 mya), existing for approximately 25 million years.

Taxonomic nomenclature

The Order Agoniatitida, named by Ruzhencev, 1957, is a subjective synonym for the Order Anarcestida, named by Miller and Furnish, 1954.Miller, Furnish, and Schindewolf, 1957; Paleozoic Ammonoidea; Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Part-L, Ammonoidea, Geological Society of America & Univ of Kansas. Accordingly, the name Anarcerstida is based on the family Anarcestidae (ex Anarcestinae) of Steinmann 1890. That of Agoniatiida is based on the family Agnoniatidae of Holzapfel, 1899. Saunders, Work, and Nikolaeva, 1999, refer to the Anarcestida, with Agoniatina a suborder, maintaining the priority as found in the Treatise. Shevyrev, 2006A. A. Shevyrev. 2006. The cephalopod macrosystem: A historical review, the present state of knowledge, and unsolved problems: 3. Classification of Bactritoidea and Ammonoidea. Paleontological Journal 40(2):150-161 on the other hand follows Ruzhencev, 1957 and used Agonititida.

Morphology

Agoniatitids are primitive ammonoids with a ventral retrochoanitic

siphuncle The siphuncle is a strand of biological tissue, tissue passing longitudinally through the mollusc shell, shell of a cephalopod mollusc. Only cephalopods with chambered shells have siphuncles, such as the extinct ammonites and belemnites, and the li ...

(septal necks point to the rear) reflective of their

nautiloid Nautiloids are a group of cephalopods (Mollusca) which originated in the Late Cambrian and are represented today by the living ''Nautilus'' and ''Allonautilus''. Fossil nautiloids are diverse and species rich, with over 2,500 recorded species. Th ...

ancestors and goniatitic sutures with a variable number of lobes. Shells vary from discoidal to globular. Coiling may be loose with whorls barely touching or tight with a dorsal impression.

Fossil distribution

Fossils are restricted to strata of the Zlichovian (Late Pragian/Early

Emsian The Emsian is one of three faunal stages in the Early Devonian Epoch. It lasted from 410.62 ±1.95 million years ago to 393.47 ±0.99 million years ago. It was preceded by the Pragian Stage and followed by the Eifelian Stage. It is named after ...

) to late middle

epochs.

Sources

Cephalopod orders Devonian ammonites Early Devonian first appearances Middle Devonian extinctions {{Agoniatitida-stub