Enchoteuthis
Sign in to saveEnchoteuthis (meaning "spear squid") is an extinct genus of large enchoteuthine cephalopod that lived during the Cretaceous. Although it and its relative Tusoteuthis are often compared to squid, both are now thought to be more closely related to modern octopuses. Examination of gladius remains initially yielded an estimated mantle length of about based on one specimen once described as Tusoteuthis longa, which is close to or equal to that of the modern giant squid, although reclassification of this genus as a muensterelloid results in a longer total length, about . Three species are currently
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Within Vinony's link graph, Enchoteuthis is referenced by 11 other articles, and connects out to Australia, Animalia and North America.
It sits within the topics Fossil taxa described in 1968, Late Cretaceous cephalopods of North America and Octopuses.
Its subject is documented across 6 Wikipedia language editions.
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- Parent taxon
- Vampyromorphida
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- Enchoteuthis reconstruction.png
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Encyclopedic overview
5 sectionsContents
- Etymology
- Distribution
- Taxonomy and Phylogeny
- See also
- References
Enchoteuthis (meaning "spear squid") is an extinct genus of large enchoteuthine cephalopod that lived during the Cretaceous. Although it and its relative Tusoteuthis are often compared to squid, both are now thought to be more closely related to modern octopuses. Examination of gladius remains initially yielded an estimated mantle length of about based on one specimen once described as Tusoteuthis longa, which is close to or equal to that of the modern giant squid, although reclassification of this genus as a muensterelloid results in a longer total length, about . Three species are currently recognized as valid: E. melanae, E. tonii, and E. cobbani.
==Etymology== The generic name Enchoteuthis is derived from the Greek enchos ("spear") and teuthis ("squid"). The specific name melanae honors Melanie Bonner, who discovered the holotype. E. cobbani is named after William Cobban.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Enchoteuthis” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.