Pseudorthoceratidae is an extinct family of actively mobile aquatic carnivorous cephalopods belonging to the subclass Orthoceratoidea. ITt is endemic to what would be North America, Asia, and Europe during the Silurian living from 460.5 to 251 Ma, existing for approximately .PaleoBiology Database: Pseudorthoceratidae, basic info
These animals may have been similar to the modern squid, except for the long shell. The internal structure of the shell consists of concavo-convex chambers linked by a centrally-placed tube called a siphuncle.
Taxonomy Pseudorthoceratidae was named by Flower and Caster (1935). It was assigned to Pseudorthocerataceae by Sweet (1964) and Teichert et al. (1964); to Orthocerida by Frey (1995); and to Pseudorthocerida by Barskov (1968) and Kröger (2008).W. C. Sweet. 1964. Nautiloidea–Orthocerida. In C. Teichert et al. (ed.), Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology (K) Mollusca 3 216-261C. Teichert, B. Kummel, W.C. Sweet, H.B. Stenzel, W.M. Furnish, B.F. Glenister, H.K. Erben, R.C. Moore, and D.E. Nodine Zeller. 1964. Cephalopoda - general features - Endoceratoidea - Actinoceratoidea - Nautiloidea - Bactritoidea. Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology K(3):1-519.B. Kröger. 2008. Nautiloids before and during the ammonoid origin in a Siluro–Devonian section of the Tafilalt (Morocco). Special Papers in Palaeontology 79:1-110.
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