''Lituites'' is an extinct

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 ...

genus from the Middle Ordovician and type for the Lituitidae (a tarphycerid family) that in some more recent taxonomies has been classified with the orthocerids and listed under the order Lituitida. Fossils have been found in New York,

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. ''Lituites'' produced a shell with a planospirally coiled juvenile portion at the apex, reflective of its tarphycerid ancestry, followed by a long, moderately expanding, generally straight, orthoconic adult section with a subdorsal siphuncle connecting the chambers. The adult body chamber may equal or exceed the length of the chambered part of the orthoconic section. The mature aperture has a pair of pronounced ventrolateral lappets and a similar but shorter pair of dorsolateral lappets. Lituites perfectus Ordovician Niederfinow Germany Museum fuer Naturkunde Berlin files

Lituites perfectus Ordovician Niederfinow Germany Museum fuer Naturkunde Berlin files

''Lituites'' gives its name to the term "lituiticone" which refers to a shell that is coiled in the early growth stage and later becomes uncoiled.

References

*Flower & Kummel, 1950. A Classification of the Nautiloidia. Jour Paleontology, V.24, N.5, pp 604–616, Sept *Furnish & Glenister, 1964, Nautiloidea -Tarphycerida.

Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology The ''Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology,'' published from 1953–2007 by the Geological Society of America and the University of Kansas, then 2009–present by the University of Kansas Paleontological Institute, is a definitive multi-authore ...

Part K... Nautiloidea *Mutvei, H. 2002. Connecting ring structure and its significance for classification of the orthoceratid cephalopods. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 47 (1): 157–168. {{Taxonbar, from=Q144179 Nautiloids Ordovician cephalopods Ordovician animals of Asia Ordovician Argentina