The Tainocerataceae is a superfamily in the cephalopod order Nautilida characterized by straight to loosely coiled shells, generally with a degressed, such that the width is greater than the height, to quadrate whorl section. Many bore spines, ribs, frills, wings, or nodes. In early forms the siphuncle is generally near ventral, but more variable (usually central) in advanced forms.

The Tainocerataceae are derived from the Oncocerida

Oncocerida

The Oncocerida comprise a diverse group of generally small nautiloid cephalopods known from the Middle Ordovician to the Mississippian ,in which the connecting rings are thin and siphuncle segments are variably expanded...

 through the Rutoceratidae which first appear in the Lower Devonian

Devonian

The Devonian is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic Era spanning from the end of the Silurian Period, about 416.0 ± 2.8 Mya , to the beginning of the Carboniferous Period, about 359.2 ± 2.5 Mya...

. The Rutoceratidae gave rise to the exclusively Devonian Tetragonoceratidae and early on the Mississippian or late the Devonian to the Tainoceratidae and Koninckioceratidae. The Tainoceratidae gave rise to the Rhiphaeoceratidae which are confined to the Permian.

The Tainocerataceae, established by Alpheus Hyatt

Alpheus Hyatt

Alpheus Hyatt was an American zoologist and palaeontologist.- Biography :Alpheus Hyatt II was born in Washington, D.C. to Alpheus Hyatt and Harriet Randolph Hyatt...

in 1883 is equivalent for most purposes to the suborder Rutoceratina established later by Shimanskiy in 1957.