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Loligosepiinagroup is extinct

Dirk Fuchs
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Containing group: Octopodiformes

Introduction

Loligosepiina is a Jurassic-Cretaceous group of coleoids with a well-known gladius that has much in common with living Vampyroteuthis. According to Fuchs (2006) and Fuchs & Weis (2008), the Loligosepiina contains four families (Loligosepiidae, Geopeltididae, Leptotheuthididae, Mastigophoridae). Particularly, the gladius of the early Jurassic Geopeltididae remarkably resembles the Vampyroteuthis gladius in having a cup-shaped conus, a triangular median field, anteriorly extended hyperbolar zones and lateral fields that occupy c. 70% of the median field length.

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Figure: Loligosepiid gladii. A) Parabelopeltis flexuosa (Toarcian, UK), B) gladius reconstruction of Parabelopeltis flexuosa, C) Loligosepia aalensis (Toarcian, Germany), C) gladius reconstruction of Loligosepia aalensis. © Dirk Fuchs

From the late Jurassic Leptotheuthis gigas, we know numerous arm crowns consisting of eight thick arms. Additionally, Bandel & Leich (1986) figured circular suckers, cirri and an arm web.

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Figure: Head and arm crown of Leptotheuthis gigas (Tithonian, Solnhofen). © Dirk Fuchs

The Loligosepiina is regarded as an early stem-group of the Vampyromorpha that might have given rise to the Vampyroteuthididae.

Characteristics

  1. Gladius
    1. Conus ventrally reduced (cup-shaped).
    2. Median field broad and triangular (anterior extremity more or less straight).
    3. Hyperbolar zone developed as notches, hyperbolar zone length more than the half median field length.
    4. Lateral fields almost as long as the hyperbolar zone

Classification

Problematic Vampyromorpha:

(*only 1 specimen known; ** 2-5 specimens; *** 5-10 specimens; **** > 10 specimens)

References

Bandel, K. & Leich, H. 1986. Jurassic Vampyromorpha (dibranchiate cephalopods). Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, Monatshefte 1986(3): 129-148.

Fuchs, D. 2006a. Fossil erhaltungsfähige Merkmalskomplexe der Coleoidea (Cephalopoda) und ihre phylogenetische Bedeutung. Berliner Paläobiologische Abhandlungen 8: 1-115.

Fuchs, D. 2006b. Re-description of Doryanthes munsterii (D´Orbigny, 1845), a poorly known vampyropod coleoid (Cephalopoda) from the Late Jurassic Solnhofen Plattenkalks. Archaeopteryx 24: 79-88.

Fuchs, D. & Weis, R. 2008. Taxonomy, morphology and phylogeny of Lower Jurassic loligosepiid coleoids (Cephalopoda). Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, Abhandlungen 249(1): 93-112.

Title Illustrations
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Leptotheuthis gigas from the Tithonian (late Jurassic) of Solnhofen (germany). Body lengths of 120cm are very common.

Copyright © Dirk Fuchs
About This Page

Dirk Fuchs
Hokkaido University

Correspondence regarding this page should be directed to Dirk Fuchs at

Page: Tree of Life Loligosepiina. Authored by Dirk Fuchs. The TEXT of this page is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License - Version 3.0. Note that images and other media featured on this page are each governed by their own license, and they may or may not be available for reuse. Click on an image or a media link to access the media data window, which provides the relevant licensing information. For the general terms and conditions of ToL material reuse and redistribution, please see the Tree of Life Copyright Policies.

Citing this page:

Fuchs, Dirk. 2010. Loligosepiina. Version 03 May 2010 (under construction). http://tolweb.org/Loligosepiina/140240/2010.05.03 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/

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