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Levisoceras

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Levisoceras
Temporal range: Tremadocian
artist's restoration of L. edwardsi
Scientific classification
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Levisoceras

Flower, 1964

Levisoceras is a genus of early Ordovician ellesmerocerid cephalopods.[1] [2]

Morphology

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Levisoceras is a distinctive ellesmeroceratid that combines rapid expansion a strong endogastric curvature. The cross section is compressed with the height increasing more rapidly than the width. The siphuncle is ventral and expands much as the shell itself.[1] In one specimen[2] the height was found to be around four centimetres and the width 2.5 cm. The septa are approximately flat.

Taxonomic Relations

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Some 14 or so species have been named. Those more gently expanding approach Dakeoceras in form. There is also an apparent transition between Levisoceras and Burenoceras.[1]

Ecology

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Levisoceras was carnivorous and lived on, and swum above, the sea floor.[3]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Flower, R.H. 1964. The Nasutiloid Order Ellesmerocerida (Cephalopoda); Memoir 12, New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources, Socorro N.M.
  2. ^ a b Kröger, B. R. (2007). "Some Lesser Known Features of the Ancient Cephalopod Order Ellesmerocerida (Nautiloidea, Cephalopoda)". Palaeontology. 50 (3): 565–572. Bibcode:2007Palgy..50..565K. doi:10.1111/j.1475-4983.2007.00644.x.
  3. ^ "The Paleobiology Database: Levisoceras". Archived from the original on 2011-07-18.