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; they have a possible fossil record during the Paleocene in the Southern United States and Turkmenistan.

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.
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 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

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.