''Temperoceras'' is a genus of

orthoconic An orthocone is the long, cone-shaped shell belonging to several species of ancient nautiloid cephalopod—the prehistoric ancestors of today's marine cephalopod mollusks, including the cuttlefishes, nautiluses, octopuses and squids.; During the ...

nautiloid

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 ...

s that lived in what is now north Africa, Europe, and Asia during the early

Paleozoic The Paleozoic ( , , ; or Palaeozoic) Era is the first of three Era (geology), geological eras of the Phanerozoic Eon. Beginning 538.8 million years ago (Ma), it succeeds the Neoproterozoic (the last era of the Proterozoic Eon) and ends 251.9 Ma a ...

. It was named by I. V. Barskov in 1960.

Taxonomy

''Temperoceras'' is 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

Geisonoceratidae Geisonoceratidae is an extinct family of orthoceroid cephalopods endemic to what would be Asia, Europe, and North America from the Middle Ordovician to the Middle DevonianSweet, W. C. 1964. Nautiloidea- Orthocerida; Treatise on Invertebrate Pal ...

Sweet, W.C. 1964. Nautiloidea- Orthocerida. Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Part K. Geol. Soc. of America and Univ Kansas Press the type is ''Orthoceras ludense''

Morphology

''Temperoceras'' has an

shell with a tubular

siphuncle The siphuncle is a strand of biological tissue, tissue passing longitudinally through the mollusc shell, shell of a cephalopod mollusc. Only cephalopods with chambered shells have siphuncles, such as the extinct ammonites and belemnites, and the li ...

that contains annular deposits that are restricted to or begin at the septal openings.

Distribution

''Temperoceras'' has been found in sediments ranging in age from

Ordovician The Ordovician ( ) is a geologic period and System (geology), system, the second of six periods of the Paleozoic Era (geology), Era, and the second of twelve periods of the Phanerozoic Eon (geology), Eon. The Ordovician spans 41.6 million years f ...

Devonian The Devonian ( ) is a period (geology), geologic period and system (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era during the Phanerozoic eon (geology), eon, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the preceding Silurian per ...

in north Africa, southern Europe, and China.

References

Prehistoric nautiloid genera Ordovician first appearances Devonian extinctions Orthocerida {{paleo-Nautiloidea-stub