Ammonoidea

Ammonoids Temporal range: 409–65 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N Early Devonian (Emsian) - earliest Paleocene (Danian)
Specimen of Pleuroceras solare, from the Lower Jurassic of Bavaria, Germany
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Cephalopoda
Clade:	Neocephalopoda
Subclass:	†Ammonoidea Zittel, 1884
Orders
†Agoniatitida †Ammonitida †Ceratitida †Clymeniida †Goniatitida †Prolecanitida

Ammonoids are extinct, (typically) coiled-shelled cephalopods comprising the subclass Ammonoidea. They are more closely related to living octopuses, squid, and cuttlefish (which comprise the clade Coleoidea) than they are to nautiluses (family Nautilidae).^[1] The earliest ammonoids appeared during the Emsian stage of the Early Devonian, with the last species vanishing during or soon after the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. They are often called ammonites, which is most frequently used for members of the order Ammonitida, the only remaining group of ammonoids from the Jurassic up until their extinction.^[2]

Ammonoids exhibited considerable diversity over their evolutionary history, with over 10,000 species having been described.^[3] Ammonoids are excellent index fossils, and they have been frequently used to link rock layers in which a particular species or genus is found to specific geologic time periods. Their fossil shells usually take the form of planispirals, although some helically spiraled and nonspiraled forms (known as heteromorphs) have been found, primarily during the Cretaceous period.

The name "ammonite", from which the scientific term is derived, was inspired by the spiral shape of their fossilized shells, which somewhat resemble tightly coiled rams' horns. Pliny the Elder (d. 79 AD near Pompeii) called fossils of these animals ammonis cornua ("horns of Ammon") because the Egyptian god Ammon (Amun) was typically depicted wearing rams' horns.^[4] Often, the name of an ammonite genus ends in -ceras, which is from κέρας (kéras) meaning "horn".