Royal H. Mapes & Neal L. Larson (2015)
Перейти к источникуColor patterns on ammonoid cephalopods are rarely preserved despite the fact that millions of the shells of these extinct animals have been recovered from Devonian through the Upper Cretaceous rocks that were deposited in a wide variety of marine environments around the world. New information on this biological feature continues to be slowly discovered; however, rarity continues to limit the study of this phenomenon. New discoveries of the past twenty years include several cases of false color patterns and the documentation of iridescent color patterns that appear to have become extinct at the end of the Cretaceous with the demise of the ammonites. Additionally, there appears to be a direct relationship to different color patterns (longitudinal bands, transverse bands, monochromatic shells and no preserved color pattern) in the Lower Triassic to habitat and life mode. It is unknown if this relationship holds true for post Triassic occurrences.