Soft Part Anatomy of Ammonoids: Reconstructing the Animal Based on Exceptionally Preserved Specimens and Actualistic Comparisons

Parasites of Ammonoids

“…Additionally, even when preserved and detected, the quality of preservation will hamper precise identification of such fossil parasites. Soft part preservation is also rare in ammonoids (e.g., Klug et al 2012;Klug and Lehmann 2015) and therefore, no direct evidence for parasitism in the form of body fossils has yet been found.…”

Ammonoid Septa and Sutures

“…Lewy (2002Lewy ( , 2003 suggested that the complexly fluted septa are the result of a stronger connection between the soft body and the conch (temporary holdanchorage system, no muscle attachment). This led Lewy (2002) to the assumptions that the greater the complexity of the marginal fluting of septa, the better the ammonoid could withstand the dragging force between the body and the buoyant conch, and hence the more aggressively the ammonoid predated and competed with other creatures; this hypothesis entirely lacks evidence from soft-tissues or muscle imprints (Doguzhaeva and Mapes 2015;Klug and Lehmann 2015).…”

Ammonoid Locomotion

“…Since hardly anything is known about ammonoid arms (Klug and Lehmann 2015), it is currently impossible to conclude if such a mode of locomotion occurred in ammonoids.…”