Tusoteuthis

Tusoteuthis (meaning "crushed squid") is an extinct genus of very large enchoteuthidid cephalopod that lived during the Cretaceous. Although often called a squid, it is now thought to be more closely related to modern octopi. Examination of gladius remains has yielded an estimated mantle length close to or equal to that of the modern giant squid. Fossil remains have been found in parts of the one-time Western Interior Seaway of North America, including Late Cretaceous rocks in Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota, North Dakota, and Manitoba Province. One species, T. longa, is traditionally recognized.

Tusoteuthis
Temporal range: Santonian–Campanian
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Mollusca
Class:
Cephalopoda
Order:
Octopoda
Suborder:
†Teudopseina
Superfamily:
†Muensterelloidea[1]
Family:
†Enchoteuthididae
Larson, 2010[2]
Genus:
†Tusoteuthis
Logan, 1898
Type species
†Tusoteuthis longa
Logan, 1898
Synonyms
  • Tusoteuthis cobbani?
    Larson, 2010
  • Niobrarateuthis bonneri?
    Miller, 1957
  • Niobrarateuthis walkeri?
    Green, 1977
  • Enchoteuthis melanae?
    Miller & Walker, 1968
  • Kansasteuthis lindneri?
    Miller & Walker, 1968

Etymology

American paleontologist William N. Logan (1869–1941) did not directly explain the name Tusoteuthis in 1898.[3] The generic name may be formed from Latin tusus "crushed" (passive participle of Latin tundo "beat, crush") + Greek teuthis "squid", alluding to the typically fragmented condition of the fossil gladius: "Fragments of the shafts of Tusoteuthis longus or allied forms are abundant in the Ornithostoma beds, but complete specimens are extremely rare." (pg. 498) The gender of the type species name was later corrected to the Latin feminine longa.

Ecology

Tusoteuthis is assumed to have preyed on other cephalopods, fish, and possibly even small marine reptiles.[4] Despite its size, which was around 20 to 35 feet (6 to 11 metres) long with tentacles fully outstretched, Tusoteuthis was still preyed on by other animals, especially the many, various predatory fish of the Western Interior Seaway. A fossil of the predatory aulopiform, Cimolichthys nepaholica, was found with the gladius of T. longa in its gullet. The back portion of the gladius was in the stomach region, while the mouth of C. nepaholica had remained opened, suggesting that the fish had died in the middle of swallowing the cephalopod, tail first. Researchers strongly suspect that as the fish was swallowing Tusoteuthis, the head and/or tentacles remained outside the mouth, thus blocking the gills of the fish, and suffocating it as it swallowed its prey.[5]

See also

References
  1. Fuchs, D.; Schweigert, G. (2018). "First Middle–Late Jurassic gladius vestiges provide new evidence on the detailed origin of incirrate and cirrate octopuses (Coleoidea)". PalZ. 92: 203–217. doi:10.1007/s12542-017-0399-8.
  2. Larson, N.L. (2010). "Fossil coleoids from the Late Cretaceous (Campanian & Maastrichtian) of the Western Interior". Ferrantia. 59: 78-113.
  3. Logan, William N. (1898). "The invertebrates of the Benton, Niobrara and Fort Pierre Groups". University of Kansas, Geological Survey. 4: 431–518.
  4. Everhart, Mike (2007). Sea Monsters: Prehistoric Creatures of the Deep. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic. p. 92. ISBN 1426200854.
  5. Kauffman, E. G. (1990). "Cretaceous fish predation on a large squid". In Boucot, A. J. (ed.). Evolutionary Paleobiology and Coevolution. Amsterdam: Elsevier. pp. 195–196.
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