Article: Origin, limits, and systematic position of Scaphites

Up to the present interpretations concerning the origin and systematic position of the Cretaceous heteromorph Scaphites have been extremely divergent. On one hand, scaphitids have been regarded as a mono-phyletic group of either lytoceratid (e.g. Spath 1933, 1934; Wright 1953, 1957) or ammonitid origin (Luppov and Drushtchic 1958; Drushtchic 1962), on the other hand, as a more or less polyphyletic accumulation (Nowak 1911; Reeside 1927a; Schindewolf 1961). Wright and Wright (1951) established a superfamily Scaphitaceae, directly connected with the lytoceratid stock, while in the recent Russian literature they are placed in the Ammonitina. Reeside distributed the scaphitids among four different ammonitid lineages. All these possibilities of scaphitid classification are discussed here. A monophyletic but hamitid origin of the true scaphitids is asserted; 'Otoscaphitinae' Wright are regarded as heterogeneous (Otoscaphites is a true Scaphites, but Worthoceras should be placed in Ptychoceratinae), and Labeceratidae Spath are referred to the anisoceratids. The suture line of the restricted Scaphites was found to be quadrilobate throughout, as in all other heteromorphs. This makes the superfamily rank unnecessary, in the author's opinion, and places the remaining family Scaphitidae in the Ancylocerataceae, as recently defined by Wiedmann (1962b).