Bringing Back The Dead - How To Properly Reconstruct The Prehistoric Orthocones

The cephalopods are an extremely diverse and long-lasting class of invertebrate animals. They have been around, in some form or another, since at least the Late Cambrian, 500 million some odd years ago, though they rose to prominence in the world’s oceans during the Ordovician period, 485.4 to 443.8 million years ago. In that time they have developed into almost impossible shapes, sizes, colors, and textures – with and without shells. One of the biggest groups of the cephalopods is the Nautiloids which evolutionarily diverged from the rest of the cephalopod gang in the Late Cambrian. Now, one of THOSE, cephalopod groups, the Orthoceratoidea – the straight shelled Nautiloids. This is the major group that became one of the largest groups of predators in the world’s oceans during the Ordovician as mentioned earlier. These guys left behind enormous cone-shaped shells but little to no soft tissues, so how do we reconstruct these behemoths? Behemoths that may have stretched up to 20 feet 6 meters with shaky reports of some up to 30 feet 9 meters. The scientifically valid monophyletic grouping we want to be specific with here is the Endoceratoidea and its sub-group the Endocerida as we will be taking a look at its best example – Endoceras. __________________________________________________________________ Art in Thumbnail belongs to - Prehistorica _________________________________________________________________ ✅ PATREON ✅   / edgescience   ✅ STICKERS & SHIRTS ✅ https://www.redbubble.com/people/Pain... ✅Facebook: facebook.com/ExpeditionDG/ ✅Twitter: twitter.com/EDGEinthewild ✅Instagram: @edgeonthetrail ✅ MUSIC ✅ “The Most Extreme Theme” - PastEonsProductions “Aquatic Ambience” - Donkey Kong Country OST “Cave Dweller Concert” - Donkey Kong Country OST “Ice Cave Chant” - Donkey Kong Country OST “Simian Segue” - Donkey Kong Country OST “Aquatic Ambience” - Scizzie __________________________________________________________________ If I've used something on my video that you don't want me to use, PLEASE EMAIL ME first before flagging a video, I'm very reasonable and will take the video down to replace whatever image or video belongs to you. Email: [email protected] __________________________________________________________________ RESEARCH Dean, B. (1901). Notes on living Nautilus. The American Naturalist, 35(418), 819-837. Dzik, J. (1981). Origin of the Cephalopoda. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, 26(2), 161-191. Flower, R.H. (1955a). Status of endoceroid classification. Journal of Paleontology, 29(3), 329-371. Flower, R.H. (1955b). Trails and tentacular impressions of orthoconic cephalopods. Journal of Paleontology, 29(5), 857-867. Holland, B., Stridsberg, S., & Bergström, J. (1978). Confirmation of the reconstruction of Aptychopsis. Lethaia, 11(2), 144. Klug, C., Riegraf, W., & Lehmann, J. (2012). Soft-part preservation in heteromorph ammonites from the Cenomanian-Turonian boundary event (OAE 2) in north-west Germany. Palaeontology, 55(6), 1307-1331. Kröger, B. (2012). The “Vaginaten”: the dominant cephalopods of the Baltoscandian Mid Ordovician endocerid limestone. GFF, 134(2), 115-132. Lehman, U., & Hillmer, G. (1983). Fossil Invertebrates (J. Lettau, Trans.). Cambridge University Press. (Original work published 1980) Liberty, B.A. (1969). Palaeozoic geology of the Lake Simcoe area, Ontario. Geological Survey of Canada Memoir, 355, 1-201. Ludvigsen, R. (1979). The Ordovician trilobite Pseudogygites Kobayashi in eastern and Arctic North America. Life Sciences Contributions, Royal Ontario Museum, 120, 1-41. Marsh, O.C. (1869). On the preservation of color in fossils from Paleozoic formations. Proceedings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 17, 325-326. Mehl, J. (1984). Radula und fangarme bei Michelinoceras sp. aus dem Silur von Bolivien [Radula and arms of Michelinoceras from the Silurian of Bolivia]. Paläontologische Zeitschrift, 58(3-4), 211-229. Mironenko, A.A. (2020). Endocerids: suspension feeding nautiloids? Historical Biology, 32(2), 281-289. Osgood, R.G. Jr. (1970). Trace fossils of the Cincinnati area. Palaeontographica Americana, 6(41), 281-444. Raymond, P.E. (1920). The appendages, anatomy, and relationships of trilobites. Memoirs of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, 7, 1-169. Rudkin, D. (1985). Exoskeletal abnormalities in four trilobites. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 22(3), 479-483. Teichert, C., & Kummel, B. (1960). Size of endoceroid cephalopods. Breviora, 128, 1-7. Turek, V. (1978). Biological and stratigraphical significance of the Silurian nautiloid Aptychopsis. Lethaia, 11(2), 127-138. Wells, J.W. (1942). Supposed color-markings in Ordovician trilobites from Ohio. American Journal of Science, Series 5, 240(10), 710-713. __________________________________________________________________