Dombarites is a genus belonging to the goniatitid family Agathiceratidae

Agathiceratidae

The Agathiceratidae as revised makes up the goniatitid superfamily Agathicerataceae. The Agathiceratidae, which lived from the Upper Carboniferous to the Middle Permian, combine related genera with subdiscoidal to globular shells that have a small umbilicus and goniatitic sutures and are...

; extinct ammonoids which are shelled cephalopods more closely related to squid , octopus and other coleoids than to the superficially similar Nautilus

Nautilus

Nautilus is the common name of marine creatures of cephalopod family Nautilidae, the sole extant family of the superfamily Nautilaceae and of its smaller but near equal suborder, Nautilina. It comprises six living species in two genera, the type of which is the genus Nautilus...

According to Saunders, et al., 1999, Dombarites from the middle and upper Lower Carboniferous

Carboniferous

The Carboniferous is a geologic period and system that extends from the end of the Devonian Period, about 359.2 ± 2.5 Mya , to the beginning of the Permian Period, about 299.0 ± 0.8 Mya . The name is derived from the Latin word for coal, carbo. Carboniferous means "coal-bearing"...

 (Mississippian) is the earliest of the Agathiceratidae; gave rise to Perclietes and Proshumardites in the late Early Carboniferous and indirectly to Agathiceras

Agathiceras

Agathiceras is a subglobose goniatitid from the family Agathiceratidae, widespread and locally abundant in Lower Pennsylvanian to Middle Permian sediments, e.g. the Urals, Sicily, and Texas....

which first appeared in the middle Upper Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian). Dombarites is derived from Goniatites

Goniatites

Goniatites is genus of the Goniatitaceae superfamily. They are an extinct group of ammonoid, which are shelled cephalopods related to squids, belemnites, octopuses, and cuttlefish, and more distantly to the nautiloids.-References:* accessed on 10/01/07...

, a genus in the Goniatitidae

Goniatitidae

Goniatitidae is one of three families of the Goniatitaceae superfamilies. They are an extinct group of ammonoid, which are shelled cephalopods related to squids, belemnites, octopuses, and cuttlefish, and more distantly to the nautiloids.-References:...

, in the middle Early Carboniferous.

References

• Saunders et al., 1999; Evolution of Complexity in Paleozoic Ammonoid Sutures, Supplementary Material; Science Mag. http://www.sciencemag.org/feature/data/1043099.dtl

• The Paleobiology Database accessed on 10/01/07