Pleuronautilus is a Nautiloid genus; family Tainoceratidae

Tainoceratidae

The Tainoceratidae is a family of late Paleozoic and Triassic nautiloids that are a part of the order Nautilida, characterized by large, generally evolute shells with quadrate to rectangular whorl sections...

, order Nautilida

Nautilida

The Nautilida constitute a large and diverse order of generally coiled nautiloid cephalopods that began in the mid Paleozoic and continues to the present with a single family, the Nautilidae which includes two genera, Nautilus and Allonautilus, with six species...

. The shell is evolute, discoidal; whorl section subquadrade, flanks generally straight but may converge toward the venter. Inner flanks have course ribbing, outer have rows of nodes. Sutures have shallow ventral, lateral, and dorsal lobes. Its siphuncle is small and approximately central.

Pleuronautilus has been found in Upper Permian

Permian

The PermianThe term "Permian" was introduced into geology in 1841 by Sir Sir R. I. Murchison, president of the Geological Society of London, who identified typical strata in extensive Russian explorations undertaken with Edouard de Verneuil; Murchison asserted in 1841 that he named his "Permian...

 marine limestone

Limestone

Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....

 in Armenia, China, and Iran, sometimes associated with orthocerids

Orthocerida

Orthocerida is an order of extinct nautiloid cephalopods also known as the Michelinocerda that lived from the Early Ordovician possibly to the Late Triassic . A fossil found in the Caucasus suggests they may even have survived until the Early Cretaceous...

, ammonoids, and other nautilids

Nautilida

The Nautilida constitute a large and diverse order of generally coiled nautiloid cephalopods that began in the mid Paleozoic and continues to the present with a single family, the Nautilidae which includes two genera, Nautilus and Allonautilus, with six species...

 as well as other invertebrates; in Upper Permian offshore mudstone and calcareous siltstone in the northern Caucasus

Caucasus

The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...

, and in upper Lower Permian marine sediments in Tajikistan

Tajikistan

Tajikistan , officially the Republic of Tajikistan , is a mountainous landlocked country in Central Asia. Afghanistan borders it to the south, Uzbekistan to the west, Kyrgyzstan to the north, and China to the east....

 with grypoceratids

Grypoceratidae

Grypoceratidae is the longest lived family of the Trigonocerataceae, or of the near equivalent Centroceratina; members of the Nautilida from the Upper Paleozoic and Triassic.-Diagnosis:...

 and pronoritids. It has been found also in Lower Triassic

Triassic

The Triassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about 250 to 200 Mya . As the first period of the Mesozoic Era, the Triassic follows the Permian and is followed by the Jurassic. Both the start and end of the Triassic are marked by major extinction events...

 black marine calcaeous shale in Afghanistan

Afghanistan

Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...

 with orthocerid, aulacocerid, phylloceratitd and ceratitid cephalopod genera and in early Upper deltaic shale and marl with ceratitids, pelecypods, and gastropods in Solvenia; and mid upper offshore mustone with Paranautilus

Paranautilus

Paranautilus is a genus of the Nautiloid family Liroceratidae with a very involute, moderately globular, smooth shell. The venter, at the outer rim, is arched, grading into broadly convex flanks. The dorsom, on the inner rim, is deeply impressed. Septa a close spaced, with slightly sinuous sutures...

and Rhacophyllites

Discophyllitidae

Discophyllitidae are discoidal, generally evolute Phylloceratina from the Upper Triassic, derived from the Ussuritidae, in which the principal saddles of the suture have bifurcated or trifurcated endings, described as being di- or triphyllic. Discophyllitid shells are rather similar to those of...

and ceratitids in western Nevada

Nevada

Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...

. .

References

• Bernhard Kummel, 1964. Nautiloidea-Nautilida. Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Part K. Geological Soc. of America and University of Kansas press. Teichert and Moore (eds)
• Pleuronautilus- Paleodb