Aulacostephanus
Encyclopedia
Aulacostephanus is an extinct ammonoid cephalopod
Cephalopod
A cephalopod is any member of the molluscan class Cephalopoda . These exclusively marine animals are characterized by bilateral body symmetry, a prominent head, and a set of arms or tentacles modified from the primitive molluscan foot...

 genus from the Upper Jurassic Kimmeridgian
Kimmeridgian
In the geologic timescale, the Kimmeridgian is an age or stage in the Late or Upper Jurassic epoch or series. It spans the time between 155.7 ± 4 Ma and 150.8 ± 4 Ma . The Kimmeridgian follows the Oxfordian and precedes the Tithonian....

 belonging to the perisphinctacean
Perisphinctaceae
Perisphinctoidea, formerly Perisphinctaceae, is a superfamily of Middle Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous ammonites, commonly with evolute shells with strong ribbing that typically divides about mid flank before crossing the venter....

 family Aulacostephanidae.

Aulacostephanus produced a discoidal, strongly ribbed,evolute shell of moderate size, reaching diameters of 16 cm (~6.5in.), or so. Ribs diverge in pairs and threes from nodes on the umbilical shoulder and extend radially outward onto the ventro-lateral shoulder, but do not cross the venter, (the outer rim). Sides are flat, the venter steeply rounded, with an open bend or median groove running down the middle.

Clutches of egg attributed to this genus have been discovered in the Kimmeridge clay
Kimmeridge Clay
The Kimmeridge Clay Formation is a sedimentary deposit of fossiliferous marine clay which is of Jurassic age. It occurs in Europe.Kimmeridge Clay is arguably the most economically important unit of rocks in the whole of Europe, being the major source rock for oil fields in the North Sea hydrocarbon...

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