描述Cameroceras inaequabile fossil nautiloid, northern Kentucky.jpg |
Cameroceras inaequabile (Miller, 1882) fossil nautiloid (8.0 cm across) from the Ordovician of Kentucky, USA.
This is a partial internal mold of a Cameroceras nautiloid cephalopod. The living animal was a squid-like creature that constructed a long, slightly tapering, aragonitic, hollow shell with regularly-spaced internal walls. The original aragonite shell has dissolved away, leaving an internal mold (impression of the shell's interior), composed of calcareous sediments. Nautiloids were relatively common components of Paleozoic oceans. Most species had straight, slightly tapering shells, but some had loosely coiled or tightly coiled shells The entire group is represented in today's oceans by three living species of chambered nautilus - Nautilus pompilius, Nautilus macromphalus, and Allonautilus scrobiculatus.
Classification: Animalia, Mollusca, Cephalopoda, Nautiloidea, Endocerida, Endoceratidae
Stratigraphy: Kope Formation, Edenian Stage, lower Cincinnatian Series, Upper Ordovician
Locality: loose piece from roadcut along the northeastern side of the AA Highway, immediately southeast of the Rt. 154 intersection, west-southwest of the town of Moscow (Ohio), northern Kentucky, USA (38° 50' 13.65" North, 84° 15' 36.81" West) |