Placenticeras meeki
| Placenticeras meeki Temporal range: Late Cretaceous
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| Fossil shell of Placenticeras meeki on display at the Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Milano | |
Scientific classification 
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| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Cephalopoda |
| Subclass: | †Ammonoidea |
| Order: | †Ammonitida |
| Family: | †Placenticeratidae |
| Genus: | †Placenticeras |
| Species: | †P. meeki
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| Binomial name | |
| †Placenticeras meeki (Böhm, 1898)
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Placenticeras meeki is an ammonite species from the Late Cretaceous. These cephalopods were fast-moving nektonic carnivores. They mainly lived in the American Interior Basin (Western Interior Seaway).
Description
Shells of this species could reach a diameter of about 20 to 50 centimetres (7.9 to 19.7 in), although largest specimen could reach 1 metre (3 ft 3 in).[1] They are discoidal, involute and compressed. Whorls are stout and rounded to diameter of 3 millimeters. The surface of fossils is usually covered by opalized nacre (ammolite).
Etymology
The name honours American Palaeontologist Fielding Bradford Meek.
References
- ^ Tsujita, Cameron J; E.G. Westermann, Gerd (1998-11-15). "Ammonoid habitats and habits in the Western Interior Seaway: a case study from the Upper Cretaceous Bearpaw Formation of southern Alberta, Canada". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 144 (1): 135–160. doi:10.1016/S0031-0182(98)00090-X. ISSN 0031-0182.
- Ammonites
- J.B. Reeside A comparison of the genera Metaplacenticeras Spath and Platcenticeras Meek Professional Paper - United States Geological Survey
- Sepkoski, Jack Sepkoski's Online Genus Database – Cephalopodes