Scaphites


Scaphites is a genus of heteromorph ammonites belonging to the Scaphitidae family. They were a widespread genus that thrived during the Late Cretaceous period.

Morphology

Scaphites generally have a chambered, boat-shaped shell. The initial part of the shell is generally more or less involute and compressed, giving no hint of the heteromorphic shell form yet to come. The terminal part is much shorter, erect, and bends over the older shell like a hook. They have transverse, branching ribs with tubercles along the venter.
[Image:Scaphites suture.svg|thumb|200px|left|Suture pattern of Scaphites]Reconstructions of the body within the shell can be made to portray Scaphites as either a benthic 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.

Age

Because Scaphites and its relatives in the superfamily Scaphitoidea are restricted to certain ages of the Cretaceous, they are useful in some areas as an index fossil. A notable example is the Late Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway in North America, in which several endemic lineages of scaphite species evolved and now serve as the basis for a highly resolved regional biostratigraphy.

Species

Scaphites aequalis † J. Sowerby, 1813Scaphites binneyi † Reeside, 1927Scaphites carlilensis † Morrow, 1935Scaphites depressus † Reeside, 1927Scaphites ferronensis † Cobban, 1951Scaphites frontierensis † Cobban, 1951Scaphites hippocrepis † DeKay, 1827Scaphites impendicostatus † Cobban, 1951Scaphites leei † Reeside, 1927Scaphites nanus † Reeside, 1927Scaphites nodosus †Scaphites obliquus † J. Sowerby, 1813Scaphites preventricosus † Cobban, 1951Scaphites tetonensis † Cobban, 1951Scaphites uintensis † Cobban, 1951Scaphites warreni † Meek and Hayden, 1860Scaphites whitfieldi † Cobban, 1951

Distribution

Fossils of Scaphites have been found in Antarctica, Armenia, Australia, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Greenland, India, Italy, Japan, Madagascar, Mexico, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and the United States.