Interpretation of holotype specimen, actual material shown as dark grey.
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Mollusca
Class:
Cephalopoda
Order:
Octopoda
Suborder:
†Teudopseina
Superfamily:
†Muensterelloidea
Family:
†Muensterellidae
Subfamily:
†Enchoteuthinae Larson, 2010[1]
Genus:
†Tusoteuthis Logan, 1898
Type species
†Tusoteuthis longa
Logan, 1898
Synonyms
Enchoteuthis? Miller & Walker, 1968
Tusoteuthis is an extinct genus of large enchoteuthine cephalopod that lived during the Cretaceous. Although often called a squid, it is now thought to be more closely related to modern octopuses. Although many specimens from Western Interior Seaway of North America were described, at 2019, only one, poorly preserved specimen from Kansas is recognized as Tusoteuthis. One species, T. longa, is traditionally recognized. In 2019, due to poor preservation of holotype specimen, Tusoteuthis was considered likely to be a nomen dubium, and it was proposed that later described species are better to included in genus Enchoteuthis instead.[2]
^Larson, N.L. (2010). "Fossil coleoids from the Late Cretaceous (Campanian & Maastrichtian) of the Western Interior". Ferrantia. 59: 78–113.
^Fuchs, Dirk; Iba, Yasuhiro; Heyng, Alexander; Iijima, Masaya; Klug, Christian; Larson, Neal L.; Schweigert, Günter (2020). Brayard, Arnaud (ed.). "The Muensterelloidea: phylogeny and character evolution of Mesozoic stem octopods". Papers in Palaeontology. 6 (1): 31–92. doi:10.1002/spp2.1254. ISSN 2056-2802. S2CID 198256507.
recognized as Tusoteuthis. One species, T. longa, is traditionally recognized. In 2019, due to poor preservation of holotype specimen, Tusoteuthis was considered...
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...
cephalopod from the Cretaceous. It is closely related to the Cretaceous Tusoteuthis and the Jurassic Muensterella. Paleontology portal Cephalopod size Fuchs...
nautiloid Endoceras may have grown even larger. Although the Cretaceous Tusoteuthis, with its 2 m (6 ft 6.7 in) long mantle, was once considered to grow...
respectively. Octopod Enchoteuthis melanae (considered as specimen of Tusoteuthis longa) had mantle length up to 2 metres (6 ft 7 in), comparable to the...
Belemnites: A Quick Look. The Octopus News Magazine Online. Eyden, P. (2003b). Tusoteuthis and the Cretaceous Giant Squids. The Octopus News Magazine Online. Fairbairn...
plesiosaurs Dolichorhynchops and Polycotylus, cephalopods like Baculites and Tusoteuthis, and the sea turtles such as Ctenochelys and Toxochelys were also found...
Chalk Tusoteuthis T. longa Smoky Hill Chalk A nomen dubium. Enchoteuthis E. melanae Smoky Hill Chalk Most material formerly referred to Tusoteuthis now...
B. compressus Zone. 2 specimens. A coleoid, originally described as Tusoteuthis cobbani. E. melanae Niobrara County, Wyoming. Baculites obtusus zone...
Discovery Centre also houses numerous specimens of the Cretaceous squid Tusoteuthis longa; these specimens represent the northernmost known occurrence of...
found in the Neogene, perhaps even juveniles of the giant vampire squid Tusoteuthis longa were eaten by the first of these birds: PD [2009] True eels (Anguillidae)...
Cimolichthys suffocated when its would-be prey, a sizable squid called Tusoteuthis longa, was too large to swallow completely and blocked the fish's gills...
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