Paleocirroteuthis

The genus name consists of the Latin word cirrus (meaning "curl") which is prefixed and suffixed by the Ancient Greek words παλαιός (palaios, meaning "ancient") and τευθίς (teuthis, meaning "squid") respectively. When combined, they roughly translate to "ancient curly-haired squid". P. haggarti is named after W. J. Haggart, a contributor to the Cretaceous Nanaimo Group's biostratigraphy, and P. pacifica is named after the Pacific Ocean, where the species was distributed. ==Description==

Paleocirroteuthis was large, comparable in size to a humboldt squid (Dosidicus gigas), as the lower jaw of specimen MCM-A872 (Paleocirroteuthis sp. nov. (?)) had a crest length of , ==Classification==

Paleocirroteuthis is placed in the suborder Cirrina, although its placement within Cirrina is unknown. • Class Cephalopoda • Subclass Nautiloidea: nautilus • Subclass †Ammonoidea: ammonites • Subclass Coleoidea • Superorder Decapodiformes: squid, cuttlefish • Superorder Octopodiformes • Family †Trachyteuthididae (incertae sedis) • Order Vampyromorphida: vampire squid • Order Octopoda • Genus †Keuppia (incertae sedis) • Genus †Palaeoctopus (incertae sedis) • Genus †Proteroctopus (incertae sedis) • Genus †Styletoctopus (incertae sedis) • Suborder Cirrina: finned deep-sea octopus • Superfamily Opisthoteuthoidea • Family Opisthoteuthidae (containing Opisthoteuthis, Exsuperoteuthis & Insigniteuthis) • Family Grimpoteuthidae (containing Grimpoteuthis, Cryptoteuthis, & Luteuthis) • Family Cirroctopodidae (containing Cirroctopus) • Superfamily Cirroteuthoidea • Family Cirroteuthidae (containing Cirroteuthis, Cirrothauma, & Inopinoteuthis) • Family Stauroteuthidae (containing Stauroteuthis) • Family & Superfamily uncertain: †Paleocirroteuthis • Suborder Incirrina: octopus without mantle fins or cirri. ==References==