Suecoceras

Suecoceras Temporal range: Tremadocian-Darriwilian ~
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Cephalopoda
Subclass:	Nautiloidea
Order:	†Endocerida
Family:	†Endoceratidae
Genus:	†Suecoceras Holm, 1986
Type species
Suecoceras marcoui Ruedemann 1906
Species
S. marcoui Ruedemann 1906

Suecoceras is an endoceratid (a kind of nautiloid cephalopod) that lived during the Middle Ordovician. It is characterised by a long, straight, slender shell with a slightly expanded tip that curves slightly downwards.

The shell is compressed from side to side in the humped apical portion, but circular in the rest. The siphuncle is proportionally large, 1/3 to 1/2 the shell diameter; ventral at the beginning, becoming subventral in the adult portion. Septal necks are holochoanitic to slightly maxichaonitic, extending back to the previous septum and sometimes beyond. Endocones are long and slender, with a narrow tube running down the middle.

The siphuncle takes up the entire apex, but is not swollen as in Chazyoceras or Nanno.

A typical species, S. barrande (Dewitz), whose fossil remains are known from Sweden (hence the name, Sueco- means "Swedish"), has a shell about 15 cm (5.9 in) long.

Distribution

Fossils of the genus have been found in:

• Karmberg Formation, Tasmania, Australia
• Kandle Formation, Estonia
• Vaidlenai Formation, Lithuania
• Segerstad and Seby Limestones, Sweden
• Rochdale Formation, New York state

Further reading

• Teichert, C. 1964. Endoceratoidea; Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Part K, Geological Society of America and Univ. Kansas Press
• Moore, Raymond C., Lalicker, Cecil G., & Fischer, Alfred G. 1952. Invertebrate Fossils. McGraw-Hill, New York. Page 355
• R. Ruedemann. 1906. Cephalopoda of the Beekmantown and Chazy formations of the Champlain Basin. Bulletin of the New York State Museum, Paleontology 14:389-611