Nostoceratidae

Extinct family of ammonites

Nostoceratidae is a diverse family of heteromorph ammonites found throughout the oceans of the world during the Late Cretaceous. The nostoceratids are famous for the bizarre coiling of their shells. Many genera, such as Yezoceras, Ainoceras, Anaklinoceras, and some species of Bostrychoceras and Eubostrychoceras, display, as young shells at least, a helical coiling very similar to the shells of the related family, Turrilitidae. As adults, though, the coils then curve away from the axis of coiling, either as an oxbow-like curve around the juvenile coils as in Ainoceras and Anaklinoceras, or in a simple curved loop beneath the juvenile coils, as in Yezoceras. Other genera form loose coils, sometimes in a spiral, such as those of Madagascarites, Muramotoceras, Hyphantoceras, and the infamously convolute Nipponites.

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