''Nautilus praepompilius'' is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

species of

nautilus A nautilus (; ) is any of the various species within the cephalopod family Nautilidae. This is the sole extant family of the superfamily Nautilaceae and the suborder Nautilina. It comprises nine living species in two genera, the type genus, ty ...

. It lived from the

Late Paleocene The Thanetian is, in the International Commission on Stratigraphy, ICS Geologic timescale, the latest age (geology), age or uppermost stage (stratigraphy), stratigraphic stage of the Paleocene epoch (geology), Epoch or series (stratigraphy), Serie ...

through

Oligocene The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch (geology), epoch of the Paleogene Geologic time scale, Period that extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that defin ...

epoch In chronology and periodization, an epoch or reference epoch is an instant in time chosen as the origin of a particular calendar era. The "epoch" serves as a reference point from which time is measured. The moment of epoch is usually decided b ...

s. The first

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

specimens discovered in the

Late Eocene The Priabonian is, in the International Commission on Stratigraphy, ICS's geologic timescale, the latest age (geology), age or the upper stage (stratigraphy), stage of the Eocene epoch (geology), Epoch or series (stratigraphy), Series. It spans ...

-aged Chegan Formation of

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

: an additional, older specimen was found in the Late or Latest Paleocene-aged Pebble Point Formation in

Victoria, Australia Victoria, commonly abbreviated as Vic, is a state in southeastern Australia. It is the second-smallest state (after Tasmania), with a land area of ; the second-most-populated state (after New South Wales), with a population of over 7 million; ...

.Ward, P. D., et al. "The Paleocene cephalopod fauna from pebble point, Victoria (Australia)-fulcrum between two Eras." (2016): 391. ''N. praepompilius'' has been grouped into a single

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

together with extant species based on their shared shell characters. It is morphologically closest to '' N. pompilius'', hence the name. The nepionic constriction shows that the hatching size was approximately 23 mm, close to that for ''N. pompilius'' (around 26 mm).Ward, P.D. & W.B. Saunders 1997
''Allonautilus'': a new genus of living nautiloid cephalopod and its bearing on phylogeny of the Nautilida
''Journal of Paleontology'' 71(6): 1054–1064. ''N. praepompilius'', along with aff. ''N. cookanum'' fossils from the late Eocene

Hoko River Formation The Hoko River Formation is a Late Eocene marine sedimentary geologic formation. The formation is exposed in outcrops along the Strait of Juan de Fuca on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state, USA. It is known for containing numerous fossils ...

Washington state Washington, officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is often referred to as Washington State to distinguish it from the national capital, both named after George Washington ...

are the oldest occurrences of the genus.

References

Prehistoric nautiloids Nautiluses Paleocene molluscs Eocene molluscs Oligocene molluscs Paleogene animals of Asia Paleogene animals of Australia Fossil taxa described in 1957 {{paleo-Nautiloidea-stub