Beudanticeras

Beudanticeras Temporal range: Albian-Cenomanian ~
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Cephalopoda
Subclass:	†Ammonoidea
Order:	†Ammonitida
Family:	†Desmoceratidae
Subfamily:	†Beudanticeratinae
Genus:	†Beudanticeras Hitzell, 1902
Species
See text

Beudanticeras is an extinct cephalopod genus from the Late Cretaceous period; Albian and Cenomanian, belonging to the ammonoid subclass and included in the family Desmoceratidae.

Beudanticeras has a rather to very compressed shell that is moderately involute, with convex to flat sides and a narrowly arched out rim. Coiling is such that the outer whorl embraces much of the next inner whorl, leaving a small spiraled umbilicus. The shell is generally smooth but may have weak ribs but no tubercles. The suture is ammonitic.

The derivation of Beudanticeras may be from Uhligella, although Uhligella is partly contemporary with early Beudanticeras. Other related genera include Beudantiella, Brewericeras, Zurcherella, and possibly Pseudosaynella.

Species

The following species of Beudanticeras have been recognised:

• B. alamoense
• B. arduennense
• B. argonauticum
• B. beudanti
• B. flindersi
• B. hirtzi
• B. ingente
• B. komihevitraense
• B. mullerriedi
• B. robustum
• B. sutherlandi
• B. victoris

Distribution

Fossils of Beudanticeras have been found in Angola, Antarctica, Argentina, Australia, Canada (British Columbia, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Colombia (Hiló Formation, Tolima), the Dominican Republic, Egypt, France, Germany, Greenland, Iran, Madagascar, Mexico, Morocco, Mozambique, the Netherlands Antilles, Peru, the Russian Federation, South Africa, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, United States (Arizona, California) and Venezuela.

Further reading

• Arkell et al., Mesozoic Ammonoidea; Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Part L (Ammonoidea). Geol Soc of America and Univ Kansas Press.