Sphenodiscus

{{Automatic taxobox

|fossil_range = early Campanian-early Danian
~{{fossil_range|83.5|64.5}}

|image = Sphenodiscus.jpg

|image_caption = Sphenodiscus lenticularis

|taxon = Sphenodiscus

|authority = Meek, 1871

|subdivision_ranks = Species

|subdivision =

S. lobatus (Tuomey, 1854 [originally Ammonites lobatus])
S. lenticularis (Owen, 1852 [originally Ammonites lenticularis])
S. pleurisepta (Conrad, 1857 [originally Ammonites pleurisepta])
S. brasiliensis Maury, 1930
S. binkhorsti Böhm, 1898
S. intermedius Böse, 1927
S. aberrans Böse, 1927
S. parahybensis Maury, 1930
S. prepleurisepta Böse, 1927
S. ubaghsi de Groussouvre, 1894
S. siva Kennedy & Henderson, 1992

}}

Sphenodiscus is an extinct genus of acanthoceratacean ammonite. The genus has been found from many continents and is thought to have had a large global distribution during the Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous. It was one of the last ammonoids to have evolved before the entire subclass became extinct during the Paleocene, which was directly after the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event.

Distribution

File:Sphenodiscus - opalized.jpg specimen]]

Fossils have been found throughout North America from localities in South Carolina,{{Cite journal | last1 = Allmon | first1 = W. D. | last2 = Knight | first2 = J. L. | year = 1993 | title = Paleoecological significance of a turritelline gastropod-dominated assemblage in the Cretaceous of South Carolina | journal = Journal of Paleontology | volume = 67 | issue = 3| pages = 355–360 | doi = 10.1017/S0022336000036830 | bibcode = 1993JPal...67..355A | s2cid = 127799044 }} North Carolina,{{Cite web|url=http://collections.naturalsciences.org/resultsInvertPaleo.aspx|title=Online Collections {{!}} North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences|website=collections.naturalsciences.org|access-date=2016-05-16|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160316053637/http://collections.naturalsciences.org/resultsInvertPaleo.aspx |archive-date=2016-03-16}} South Dakota,{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1130/0016-7606(1961)72[1817:CAMCOF]2.0.CO;2 | last1 = Turekian | first1 = K. K. | last2 = Armstrong | first2 = R. L. | year = 1961 | title = Chemical and mineralogical composition of fossil molluscan shells from the Fox Hills Formation, South Dakota | journal = GSA Bulletin | volume = 72 | issue = 12| pages = 1817–1828 |bibcode = 1961GSAB...72.1817T }} Maryland,{{cite journal | last1=Landman |first1= N. H. |last2= Johnson |first2= R. O. |last3=Edwards |first3= L. E. |year=2004 |title= Cephalopods from the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary interval on the Atlantic Coastal Plain, with a description of the highest ammonite zones in North America. Part 1, Maryland and North Carolina | journal = American Museum Novitates| issue=3454 |pages= 1–64 | hdl = 2246/2819|doi= 10.1206/0003-0082(2004)454<0001:CFTTBI>2.0.CO;2 |s2cid= 54913756 |url= https://zenodo.org/record/5382650 }} New Jersey{{Cite journal | last1 = Kennedy | first1 = W. J. | last2 = Cobban | first2 = W. A. | year = 1996 | title = Maastrichtian Ammonites from the Hornerstown Formation in New Jersey | journal = Journal of Paleontology | volume = 70 | issue = 5| pages = 798–804 | jstor =1306482 | doi = 10.1017/S0022336000023842 | bibcode = 1996JPal...70..798K | s2cid = 128587701 }} and Mexico.{{Cite journal | last1 = Böse | first1 = E. | year = 1927 | title = Cretaceous ammonites from Texas and northern Mexico | journal = University of Texas Bulletin | volume = 2748 | issue = 2| pages = 143–357 }} There is also evidence of the genus being present from the island of Trinidad, although the material found from here cannot be classified at the species level.{{Cite journal | last1 = Rutsch | first1 = R. F. | year = 1939 | title = Upper Cretaceous Fossils from Trinidad, B. W. I | journal = Journal of Paleontology | volume = 13 | issue = 5| pages = 521–523 }} Common species found in North America include S. lobatus, S. lenticularis, and S. pleurisepta. New species have been found from localities outside of North America such as S. binkhorsti from the Maastricht Formation in the Netherlands, S. siva from the Valudavur Formation in India and S. brasiliensis from the beds along the banks of the Rio Gramame in Brazil.{{Cite journal | last1 = Kennedy | first1 = W. J. | year = 1986 | title = The Campanian-Maastrichtian ammonite sequence in the environs of Maastricht (Limburg, the Netherlands), Limburg and Liège provinces (Belgium) | url = http://www.schweizerbart.de/papers/nos/detail/16/55917 | journal = Newsletters on Stratigraphy | volume = 16 | issue = 3 | pages = 149–168 | doi = 10.1127/nos/16/1986/149 | access-date = 2010-10-16 | archive-date = 2012-03-12 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120312145806/http://www.schweizerbart.de/papers/nos/detail/16/55917 | url-status = dead | url-access = subscription }}{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1144/GSL.SP.1967.002.01.10 | last1 = Hancock | first1 = J. M. | year = 1967 | title = Some Cretaceous-Tertiary marine faunal changes | journal = Geological Society, London, Special Publications | volume = 2 | issue = 1| pages = 91–104 |bibcode = 1967GSLSP...2...91H | s2cid = 140190427 }}{{Cite journal | last1 = Maury | first1 = C. J. | year = 1930 | title = O Cretaceo da Parahyba do Norte | journal = Serviço Geologico e Mineralogico do Brasil Monographia | volume = 8 | pages = 1–305 }} Many specimens of S. lobatus have also been found from the Nkporo Shale in Nigeria.

Description

Image:Sphenodiscus suture.svg

The shell of Sphenodiscus was streamlined and lateromedially compressed with overlapping whorls and a small umbilicus. The ventral edge of the shell tends to be sharply angled. The outer surface is generally smooth in fossil specimens, although certain species at different stages of ontogenic development may possess many small tubercles along their surfaces.{{Cite journal | last1 = Bandel | first1 = K. | last2 = Landman | first2 = N. H. | last3 = Waage | first3 = K. M. | year = 1982 | title = Micro-Ornament on Early Whorls of Mesozoic Ammonites: Implications for Early Ontogeny | journal = Journal of Paleontology | volume = 56 | issue = 2| pages = 386–391 | jstor =1304464 }} Sphenodiscus had a complex suture pattern with many small branching lobes and saddles.