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A primary difference between ammonites and nautiloids is the siphuncle of ammonites (excepting Clymeniina) runs along the ventral periphery of the septa and camerae (i.e., the inner surface of the outer axis of the shell), while the siphuncle of nautiloids runs more or less through the center of the septa and camerae.
In a broad sense, "nautiloid" refers to a major cephalopod subclass or collection of subclasses (Nautiloidea sensu lato). Nautiloids are typically considered one of three main groups of cephalopods, along with the extinct ammonoids (ammonites) and living coleoids (such as squid , octopus , and kin).
The sutures of nautiloids are by comparison somewhat simpler, being either straight or slightly curved, whereas later ammonoids showed suture patterns of increasing complexity. One explanation for this increasing extravagancy in suture pattern is that it leads to a higher strength of the shell.
In most fossil nautiluses, the siphuncle runs more or less through the center of each chamber, but in ammonites and belemnites it usually runs along the ventral edge of the shell. In some fossil straight shelled nautiloids, cylindrical calcareous growths ("siphuncular deposits") around the siphuncle can be seen towards the apex of the shell.
The Nautilida constitute a large and diverse order of generally coiled nautiloid cephalopods that began in the mid Paleozoic and continues to the present with a single family, the Nautilidae which includes two genera, Nautilus and Allonautilus, with six species.
The divergence between the genus Nautilus, and its sister taxon Allonautilus likely occurred around New Guinea, and the Great Barrier Reef, [13] during the Mesozoic. [2] From there, populations of Nautilus split diverged further, involving migrations east to Vanuatu, Fiji, and American Samoa, as well as west, to the Philippines , Palau ...
The belemnoids become extinct at the end of the Cretaceous period along with the ammonites. The belemnoids' origin lies within the bactritoid nautiloids, which date from the Devonian period; well-formed belemnoid guards can be found in rocks dating from the Mississippian (or Early Carboniferous ) onward through the Cretaceous.
In the Coleoidea, the molluscan shell has been internalized or is absent, whereas in the Nautiloidea, the external shell remains. About 800 living species of cephalopods have been identified. Two important extinct taxa are the Ammonoidea (ammonites) and Belemnoidea (belemnites).