Placenticeras meeki
Placenticeras meeki Temporal range: Late Cretaceous | |
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Fossil shell of Placenticeras meeki on display at the Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Milano | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Mollusca |
Class: | Cephalopoda |
Subclass: | Ammonoidea |
Order: | Ammonitida |
Superfamily: | Hoplitaceae |
Family: | Placenticeratidae |
Genus: | Placenticeras |
Species: | P. meeki |
Binomial name | |
Placenticeras meeki (Böhm 1898) | |
Placenticeras meeki is an ammonite species from the Late Cretaceous. These cephalopods were fast-moving nektonic carnivores. They mainly lived in the American Interior Basin (Western Interior Seaway).
Description
Shells of this species could reach a diameter of about 1 metre (3 ft 3 in). They are discoidal, involute and compressed. Whorls are stout and rounded to diameter of 3 millimeters. The surface of fossils is usually covered by opalized nacre (ammolite).
Etymology
The name honours Fielding Bradford Meek.
References
- Ammonites
- J.B. Reeside A comparison of the genera Metaplacenticeras Spath and Platcenticeras Meek Professional Paper - United States Geological Survey
- Sepkoski, Jack Sepkoski's Online Genus Database – Cephalopodes
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