The zoological order containing all ammonites and their closely related extinct cephalopod relatives, characterized by coiled shells.
From ammonitoid plus -ea (the Latin plural/taxonomic suffix for orders). This formal taxonomic classification was established as paleontology developed a hierarchical system for organizing extinct creatures.
Ammonitoidea is the scientific name for an entire empire of extinct cephalopods—over 10,000 species that lived from 400 to 66 million years ago, finally wiped out by the same asteroid that killed dinosaurs.
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