A review of the systematic relationships and classification of Middle Jurassic heteromorph ammonites

Authors

  • Günter Schweigert Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde, Rosenstein 1, 70191 Stuttgart
  • Gerd Dietl Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde, Rosenstein 1, 70191 Stuttgart

Keywords:

Spiroceratoidea, Lytoceratoidea, Spiroceras, Parapatoceras, Acuariceras, Sulcohamites, taxonomy, phylogeny, systematics, stratigraphical ranges

Abstract

Middle Jurassic heteromorph ammonites comprise five genera: Spiroceras, Parapatoceras, Acuariceras, Paracuariceras, and possibly Sulcohamites. The taxonomic status of the genus Spiroceras is clarified herein. This genus was not formally introduced by Quenstedt in 1856 as stated before but subsequently by Hyatt in 1900, with Hamites bifurcati Quenstedt, 1857 as its type species, not by Spiroceras bifurcatum Hyatt, 1900. A neotype is designated herein for Hamites bifurcati Quenstedt, 1857. The genera Spiroceras Hyatt, 1900 and Parapatoceras Spath, 1924 are most likely monophyletic and are grouped in Spiroceratoidea Hyatt, 1900, an offshoot of Stephanoceratoidea Neumayr, 1875. The uncoiled genera Acuariceras Spath, 1933 and Paracuariceras Schindewolf, 1963 are considered to be synonymous. Their phyletic origin, however, does not lie in Parapatoceratinae Buckman, 1926, as proposed by most previous authors, but in Lytoceratoidea, more precisely in Megalytocertinae Spath, 1927. This is clearly evidenced from a couple of unique lytoceratid characters not shared with any Spiroceratoidea or Stephanoceratoidea, respectively. Consequently, Acuariceras is herein assigned to Acuariceratinae Schindewolf, 1963 as a heteromorphic offshoot of Megalytoceratinae. The monotypic Sulcohamites eimensis Wetzel, 1937 was a normally coiled evolute ammonite of still unknown systematic affinity.

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Published

2026-09-03

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