? Scaphites | ||||||||||||||
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| [image] Scaphites sp. from Colorado Specimen is 2.8 cm from top to bottom | ||||||||||||||
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| all extinct |
Scaphites (Greek skafh, "a boat or anything dug or scooped out") is a Genus of extinct Cephalopod belonging to the family of heteromorph ammonites (suborder Ancyloceratina). They were a widespread genus that thrived during the Cretaceous period.
Scaphites generally have a chambered, boat-shaped shell. The older part (juvenile stage) of the shell is generally more or less involute (tightly-coiled) and compressed. The younger part (adult stage) is much shorter, erect, and bends over the older shell like a hook. They have transverse, branching ribs with tubercles (small bumps) along the venter.
Reconstructions of the body within the shell can be made to portray Scaphites as either a benthic (bottom-dwelling) or planktonic animal, depending on where the center of gravity is located. Since useful fossils of the soft-body parts of cephalopods are highly rare, little is known about how this animal actually fit into its shell and lived its life.
Because Scaphites is restricted to certain divisions of the Cretaceous (ca. 144 to 66.4 million years ago) it is useful in some areas as an Index fossil.