''Gangshanoceras'' is a fossil
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 ...
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 ...
genus included in the
orthocerid
Orthocerida, from Ancient Greek ὀρθός (''orthós''), meaning "straight", and κέρας (''kéras''), meaning "horn", also known as the Michelinocerida, is an order of extinct orthoceratoid cephalopods that lived from the Early Ordovician ...
family
Proteoceratidae
Proteoceratidae is an extinct family of actively mobile aquatic carnivorous cephalopods belonging to the subclass Orthoceratoidea endemic to what would be Asia, Australia, Europe, South America and North America during the Ordovician
The Ord ...
. It has been found in
Ordovician rocks dated from about 478.5 to 468 Ma in China, and from rocks dated slightly younger, about 468 to 461 Ma in Argentina. It has five described species. The type is ''Gangshanoceras jurongense''.
References
Orthoceratoidea
Ordovician cephalopods
Fossils of China
Fossil taxa described in 1988
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