Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 20, 2026

Riocerida

Riocerida, originally named as Rioceratida, is an extinct order of Ordovician nautiloid cephalopods. They were the earliest-diverging members of the major group Orthoceratoidea, with which they share dorsomyarian muscle scars. However, they also possess several plesiomorphic ("primitive") traits which are absent in other orthoceratoids: Cameral and endosiphuncular deposits are absent, and the siphuncle has a marginal position along the lower edge of the shell. The conch shape is slender, usually orthoconic (straight) or weakly cyrtoconic. The monophyly of Riocerida as a unique group is plausible but difficult to confirm, and they may instead be a paraphyletic grade or polyphyletic assemblage ancestral to all later orthoceratoids.

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Riocerida
Temporal range:
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Cephalopoda
Subclass: †Orthoceratoidea
Order: †Riocerida
King & Evans, 2019
Families

Riocerida,1 originally named as Rioceratida,2 is an extinct order of Ordovician nautiloid cephalopods. They were the earliest-diverging members of the major group Orthoceratoidea, with which they share dorsomyarian muscle scars (a few large muscle scars concentrated at the top of the body chamber).12 However, they also possess several plesiomorphic ("primitive") traits which are absent in other orthoceratoids: Cameral and endosiphuncular deposits are absent, and the siphuncle has a marginal position along the lower edge of the shell. The conch (external shell) shape is slender, usually orthoconic (straight) or weakly cyrtoconic (slightly curved).2 The monophyly of Riocerida as a unique group is plausible but difficult to confirm, and they may instead be a paraphyletic grade or polyphyletic assemblage ancestral to all later orthoceratoids.1

References

References

  1. Pohle, Alexander; Kröger, Björn; Warnock, Rachel C. M.; King, Andy H.; Evans, David H.; Aubrechtová, Martina; Cichowolski, Marcela; Fang, Xiang; Klug, Christian (2022-04-14). "Early cephalopod evolution clarified through Bayesian phylogenetic inference". BMC Biology. 20 (1): 88. doi:10.1186/s12915-022-01284-5. ISSN 1741-7007. PMC 9008929. PMID 35421982.
  2. King, Andy H.; Evans, David H. (2019). "High-level classification of the nautiloid cephalopods: a proposal for the revision of the Treatise Part K". Swiss Journal of Palaeontology. 138 (1): 65–85. Bibcode:2019SwJP..138...65K. doi:10.1007/s13358-019-00186-4. ISSN 1664-2384. S2CID 133647555.