The Brevicoceratidae, named by Flower in 1941, is a family of oncocerids

Oncocerida

The Oncocerida comprise a diverse group of generally small nautiloid cephalopods known from the Middle Ordovician to the Mississippian ,in which the connecting rings are thin and siphuncle segments are variably expanded...

 that contains genera characterized by exogastric (or rarely endogastric) gyrocones, brevicones, and torticones (Flower 1950, Sweet 1964) that tend to develop vestigial actinosiphonate deposits and subtriangular transverse sections. The Brevicoceratidae are derived from Oonoceras (Oncoceratidae) and range from the Middle Silurian

Silurian

The Silurian is a geologic period and system that extends from the end of the Ordovician Period, about 443.7 ± 1.5 Mya , to the beginning of the Devonian Period, about 416.0 ± 2.8 Mya . As with other geologic periods, the rock beds that define the period's start and end are well identified, but the...

 to the Upper Devonian

Devonian

The Devonian is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic Era spanning from the end of the Silurian Period, about 416.0 ± 2.8 Mya , to the beginning of the Carboniferous Period, about 359.2 ± 2.5 Mya...

.(ibid-Sweet)

Brevicoceratidae is named for the Middle Devonian genus, Brevicoceras

Brevicoceras

Brevicoceras is an extinct prehistoric nautiloid genus from the order Oncocerida with wide distribution in the Middle Devonian in Eastern North America, Russia and Morocco...

, from North America (Sweet 1964). All told there are some 17 named genera. The family begins with Oxgonioceras in the Middle Silurian,(ibid-Sweet) sole recognized representative of that time, and reaches its greatest diversity with 12 genera in the Middle Devonian.(ibid-Sweet) The Brevicoceratidae are reduced to four genera in the Upper Devonian, when they become extinct.