''Proteroctopus'' is an extinct genus of

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

that lived in the

Middle Jurassic The Middle Jurassic is the second epoch of the Jurassic Period. It lasted from about 174.1 to 163.5 million years ago. Fossils of land-dwelling animals, such as dinosaurs, from the Middle Jurassic are relatively rare, but geological formations co ...

, approximately 164 million years ago. It is only known from a single species ''P. ribeti''. The single fossil specimen assigned to this species originates from the Lower Callovian of Voulte-sur-Rhône in France. It is currently on display at the Musée de Paléontologie de La Voulte-sur-Rhône. While originally interpreted as an early

octopus An octopus ( : octopuses or octopodes, see below for variants) is a soft-bodied, eight- limbed mollusc of the order Octopoda (, ). The order consists of some 300 species and is grouped within the class Cephalopoda with squids, cuttle ...

, a 2016 restudy of the specimen considered it to be a basal member of the

Vampyropoda Octopodiformes is a superorder of the subclass Coleoidea, comprising the octopuses and the vampire squid. All living members of Octopodiformes have eight arms, either lacking the two tentacles of squid (as is the case in octopuses) or modifying t ...

, less closely related to octopus or vampire squid than either of the two groups are to each other. A 2022 phylogenetic analysis found it to be more closely related to vampire squid than to octopuses.om the Mississippian Bear Gulch Lagerstätte sheds light on early vampyropod evolution. A phylogenetic analysis by Kruta et. al indicates that Proteroctopus may be more closely related to the Vampyrpmorpha based on its unique morphology: two fins, head fused to the body, eight arms, two rows of oblique sucker, a gladius and absence of an ink sac. The morphology of ''P. ribeti'' suggests a necto-epipelagic mode of life.

References

External links

The Octopus News Magazine Online: Fossil Octopuses
Octopuses Prehistoric cephalopod genera Jurassic animals of Europe Fossil taxa described in 1982 {{octopus-stub

See also

References

External links