Nautilus praepompilius

Summary

Nautilus praepompilius is an extinct species of nautilus. It lived from the Late Paleocene through Oligocene epochs. The first fossil specimens discovered in the Late Eocene to Oligocene-aged Chegan Formation of Kazakhstan: an additional, older specimen was found in the Late or Latest Paleocene-aged Pebble Point Formation in Victoria, Australia.[1] N. praepompilius has been grouped into a single genus 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).[2] N. praepompilius, along with aff. N. cookanum fossils from the late Eocene Hoko River Formation in Washington state are the oldest occurrences of the genus.[3]

Nautilus praepompilius
Temporal range: Late Paleocene–Oligocene
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Cephalopoda
Subclass: Nautiloidea
Order: Nautilida
Family: Nautilidae
Genus: Nautilus
Species:
N. praepompilius
Binomial name
Nautilus praepompilius
Shimansky, 1957

References edit

  1. ^ Ward, P. D., et al. "The Paleocene cephalopod fauna from pebble point, Victoria (Australia)-fulcrum between two Eras." (2016): 391.
  2. ^ 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.
  3. ^ Ryoji, W.; et al. (2008). "First discovery of fossil Nautilus pompilius (Nautilidae, Cephalopoda) from Pangasinan, northwestern Philippines". Paleontological Research. 12 (1): 89–95. doi:10.2517/1342-8144(2008)12[89:FDOFNP]2.0.CO;2.