Development of the Embryonic Shell Structure of Mesozoic Ammonoids

Abstract

Abstract Exceptionally well-preserved embryonic shells (ammonitellae) of the early Aptian ammonoid Aconeceras cf. trautscholdi Sinzov, 1870, preserved as coprolite remains from Symbirsk, Russia, were examined with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to investigate the developmental sequence of the embryonic shell structure. Our SEM observations reveal that these shells can be classified into the following three groups with different wall microstructure: Group 1, with a thin (ca. 5 µm), double-layered shell wall, consisting of inner prismatic and outer homogeneous layers, the former of which is absent in the adapical portion and becomes thicker adorally; Group 2, with a three-layered shell wall that consists of inner prismatic, middle homogeneous, and outer prismatic layers, with tubercles on the outer layer; and Group 3, with a thick nacreous swelling (primary varix) on the anteroventral side near the aperture. The middle homogeneous layer of the embryonic shells of Group 2 is the same as the outer homogen...