Prolecanitoidea

{{Short description|Extinct superfamily of ammonites}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| fossil_range = {{fossilrange|Lower Carboniferous|Middle Permian}}

| image = Protocanites diagram.png

| image_upright = 0.7

| image_caption = Protocanites, a Tournaisian prolecanitid

| taxon = Prolecanitoidea

| authority = Hyatt, 1884

| subdivision_ranks = Families

| subdivision = * Prolecanitidae

• Daraelitidae

| synonyms = Prolecanitaceae

}}

Prolecanitoidea is a taxonomic superfamily of ammonoids in the order Prolecanitida. Prolecanitoidea is one of two superfamilies in the order, along with the younger and more complex Medlicottioidea. The Prolecanitoidea were a low-diversity and morphologically conservative group. They lived from the Lower Carboniferous up to the Middle Permian. Their shells are generally smooth and discoidal, with a rounded lower edge, a moderate to large umbilicus, and goniatitic to ceratitic sutures. Suture complexity varies from 10 up to 22 total lobes (each side of a whorl combined); new lobes are added from subdivision of saddles adjacent to the original main umbilical lobe.

File:Daraelites diagram.png, a Wordian daraelitid]]

The Prolecanitoidea encompasses two related families, the ancestral Prolecanitidae (lower Tournaisian – Bashkirian? stages) and the derived Daraelitidae (Viséan – Wordian stages). Prolecanitids and daraelitids differ primarily in the complexity of the suture: Prolecanitids are simpler goniatitic forms, with rounded saddles, pointed lobes, and an undivided ventral lobe. Daraelitids, conversely, often have a trifid (three-pronged) ventral lobe and a higher number of lobes as a whole, some of which are ceratitic (finely serrated). Daraelitids are probably ancestral to Ceratitida, the dominant order of Triassic ammonoids.

A third proposed family, the Mississippian-age Prodromitidae, is occasionally also placed within the order Prolecanitida.{{Cite journal |last1=Work |first1=David M. |last2=Mapes |first2=Royal H. |last3=Thompson |first3=Thomas L. |date=1988 |title=A New Prodromitid Ammonoid Genus from the Hannibal Shale (Lower Mississippian) of Missouri |url= |journal=Journal of Paleontology |volume=62 |issue=5 |pages=772–778 |issn=0022-3360 |jstor=1305399}} The affinities or monophyly of this family are uncertain due to drastic changes in their suture patterns through ontogeny. More recently, prodromitids have been moved to the goniatite suborder Tornoceratina.{{Cite journal |last1=Work |first1=David M. |last2=Mapes |first2=Royal H. |date=2002 |title=Morphological and taxonomic clarification of the lower Mississippian (Kinderhookian) ammonoid genus Eoprodromites |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-paleontology/article/abs/morphological-and-taxonomic-clarification-of-the-lower-mississippian-kinderhookian-ammonoid-genus-eoprodromites/D19784089C7653ECC36AFCEB98EE9DAE |journal=Journal of Paleontology |language=en |volume=76 |issue=5 |pages=910–912 |doi=10.1666/0022-3360(2002)076<0910:MATCOT>2.0.CO;2 |issn=0022-3360}}

The Prolecanitoidea were previously known by the name Prolecanitaceae, prior to the recent ruling of the ICZN regarding superfamilies. The suffix -oidea was previously used for some time in invertebrate taxonomies as the ending for subclasses, e.g. Ammonoidea. The Medlicottioidea are also sometimes known as the suborder Prolecanitina.