Baculitidae is a family of extinct

ammonoid 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 ...

cephalopods that lived mostly during the

Late Cretaceous The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the more recent of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''cre ...

, and often included in the suborder

Ancyloceratina The Ancyloceratina were a diverse suborder of ammonite most closely related to the ammonites of order Lytoceratina. They evolved during the Late Jurassic but were not very common until the Cretaceous period, when they rapidly diversified and beca ...

. Baculitid genera are characterized by a small to minute initial coil of about two whorls followed by a long straight or slightly curved shaft. Genera are distinguished on the basis of size, general shape, particulars of the suture, and ornamentation. They can reach lengths of or more. Baculitids are found worldwide in deposits from the upper

Albian The Albian is both an age (geology), age of the geologic timescale and a stage (stratigraphy), stage in the stratigraphic column. It is the youngest or uppermost subdivision of the Early Cretaceous, Early/Lower Cretaceous epoch (geology), Epoch/s ...

to the

Danian The Danian is the oldest age or lowest stage of the Paleocene Epoch or Series, of the Paleogene Period or System, and of the Cenozoic Era or Erathem. The beginning of the Danian (and the end of the preceding Maastrichtian) is at the Cretac ...

ages. Related families are the

Anisoceratidae Anisoceratidae is an extinct Family (biology), family of heteromorph ammonites which belong to the Ancyloceratina superfamily Turrilitoidea. Members of the family range is from the lower Albian to the upper Turonian. The family is possibly deriv ...

, Diplomoceratidae,

Hamitidae ''Hamites'' (" hook-like") is a genus of heteromorph ammonite that evolved late in the Aptian stage of the Early Cretaceous and lasted into the Cenomanian stage of the Late Cretaceous. The genus is almost certainly paraphyletic but remains in wi ...

Nostoceratidae Nostoceratidae is a diverse Family (biology), family of heteromorph ammonites found throughout the oceans of the world during the Late Cretaceous. The nostoceratids are famous for the bizarre coiling of their shells. Many genera, such as ''Yezo ...

, and Turrilitidae; all of which along with the Baculitidae are included in the superfamily

Turrilitoidea Turrilitoidea is a diverse superfamily of Cretaceous ammonites generally considered as heteromorphic and commonly included in the suborder Ancyloceratina. Shells of this diverse group do not coil planospirally, as typical for most ammonitida, am ...

. Genera included in the family: * ''

Baculites ''Baculites'' is an extinct genus of heteromorph ammonite cephalopods with almost straight shells. The genus, which lived worldwide throughout most of the Late Cretaceous, and which briefly survived the K-Pg mass extinction event, was named by ...

'' * '' Boehmoceras'' * '' Eubaculites'' * '' Fresvillia'' * ''

Lechites Lechites (, ), also known as the Lechitic tribes (, ), is a name given to certain West Slavs, West Slavic tribes who inhabited modern-day Poland and eastern Germany, and were speakers of the Lechitic languages. Distinct from the Czech–Slovak lan ...

'' * '' Pseudobaculites'' * '' Sciponoceras'' * '' Trachybaculites'' * '' Tuberosciponoceras''

References

External links

The Paleobiology Database Baculitidae entry

The Paleobiology Database
Ammonitida families Turrilitoidea Albian first appearances Paleocene extinctions {{Ammonitida-stub