Hercoceras

Hercoceras
Hercoceras mirus, Middle Devonian, Prague Basin, Czech Republic, at the National Museum (Prague)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Cephalopoda
Subclass:	Nautiloidea
Order:	Nautilida
Family:	†Rutoceratidae
Genus:	†Hercoceras Barrande, 1865

Hercoceras is a genus of trochoidally coiled nautiloid cephalopods placed in the nautilid family Rutoceratidae. These cephalopod lived i in the Eifelian age of the middle Devonian Period, which occurred 398-391 million years ago. Their shells have prominent lateral outgrowths in the form of spines and a high intraspecific variability.

Systematic

The Paleobiology database places Hercoceras in the family Rutoceratidae in the order Nautilida, but according to some authors it should not be considered an early nautilid. They place this genus in the family Hercoceratidae in the superfamily Rutoceratoidea in the order Oncocerida.

Species

• Hercoceras mirum Barrande
• Hercoceras transiens Barrande

References

• The Paleobiology Database
• Sepkoski, Jack Sepkoski's Online Genus Database – Cephalopodes
• Museum of Comparative Zoology – Harvard University
• V. Turek – 2007 Systematic position and variability of the Devonian nautiloids Hercoceras and Ptenoceras