ammonoid

ammonoid, any of a group of extinct cephalopods (of the phylum Mollusca), forms related to the modern pearly nautilus (Nautilus), that are frequently found as fossils in marine rocks dating from the Devonian Period (began 419 million years ago) to the Cretaceous Period (ended 66 million years ago).

The ammonoids were shelled forms, and nearly all are thought to have been predacious in habit. There is evidence that these animals consumed zooplankton, crustaceans, and other ammonoids. The shells, which are either straight or coiled, served as protective and supportive structures as well as hydrostatic devices, enabling the animal to compensate for varying water depths. Ammonoids are characterized and distinguished from nautiloids by the highly crenulated and complex suture that occurs where internal partitioning walls come in contact with the outer shell wall. Ammonoids are important index fossils because of their wide geographic distribution in shallow marine waters, rapid evolution, and easily recognizable features.

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Three groups of ammonoids succeeded one another through time, each group having a more complex suture pattern. Those with a simple suture pattern, called goniatite, flourished during the Paleozoic Era (541 million to 252 million years ago). Ammonoids characterized by a more highly folded suture, called ceratite, replaced the goniatites and were most abundant in the Triassic Period (252 million to 201 million years ago). Most ammonoid genera became extinct at the end of that period, but a few survived and evolved into many diverse forms during the Cretaceous Period. These forms are characterized by an interwoven suture called the ammonite pattern.

Some scientists maintain that ammonoid survival was closely tied to the availability of plankton in Paleozoic and Mesozoic seas. They hypothesize that the sudden decline of plankton during the K–T extinction at the end of the Cretaceous brought about the demise of the remaining ammonoid groups.