Kingdom Animalia Class Cephalopoda Order Ceratitida | Phylum Mollusca Subclass Ammonoidea Rank Superfamily | |
Noritaceae is an extinct superfamily of cephalopods belonging to the Ammonite order Ceratitida.
Contents
The Noritaceae, defined by Karpinsky in 1889, combines ceratitids with "typically smooth, more or less discoidal shells with rounded or truncate peripheries and ceratitic sutures,...." Keeled or ribbed offshoots may have simpler or more complex sutures.
Taxonomy
The Noritaceae as revised (Tozer 1981) is composed of the Noritidae, Inyoitidae, Lanceolitidae, Ophiceratidae, Stephanitidae, Ussuriidae
Noritidae, not Noritidea, is the type family of the Noritaceae and may have been derived from the Dieneroceratidae through the Xenoceltitidae.
The Inyoitidae is based on the Inyoitinae which is removed from the Xenoceltitidae and elevated in rank. The Lanceolitidae, containing Lanceolites as the sole representative, was included in the Hedenstroemiidae as the Lanceolitinae.
The Ophiceratidae is removed from the Otocerataceae, the Stephanoceratidae from the Ceratitaceae. The Ussuriidae is a small family retained in the Noritaceae.
Noritacean taxonomy in the Treatise
The Treatise, Part L, gives 13 families in the Noritacea, six of which collectively contain 15 subfamilies. Of these:
The Flemingitidae and Meekoceratidae have been place in the Meekocerataceae along with the Prionitidae and Proptychitidae.
The Hedenstroemiidae, less the Lanceolitinae, have been combined with middle and upper Triassic late derivatives of the Medlicottiadae, the Sageceratidae, in what is known as the Sageceratceae. Medlicottiadae is a family in the Melicottiaceae, a superfamily of prolecanitids (order Prolecanitida).
Sageceras, type genus of the Sageceratidae, is described as having lenticular shells with flattened bicarinate venters and small umbilici. Sutures form numerous subequal auxiliary and adventitious lobes.
Hedenstroemiidae are described as having discoidal, compressed, generally smooth, involute shells with tabulate to oxynote venters. Suture are ceratitic with adventitious saddles and lobes.