Family Lituitidae Phillips, 1848

Diagnosis

Family of the order Lituitida with coiled apical part of the conch; whorls detached or weakly impressed dorsally. Whorl profile elliptic in the coiled stage, elliptic or circular in the uncoiled stage. Shell surface with growth lines, transverse lirae and/or annuli; ornament elements variable in outline but typically with conspicuous lateral and ventral sinus. Terminal aperture characterised by two to five lappets and deep ventral and lateral sinuses. Siphuncle ventral in the earliest phragmocone chambers, subdorsal in the following part of the coiled stage and subcentral or central in the uncoiled stage (after Furnish & Glenister 1964).

Genera included

Ancistroceras Boll, 1857; Angelinoceras Hyatt, 1894; Cyclolituites Remelé, 1886; Holmiceras Hyatt, 1894; Jingshanlingoceras Zou, 1987; Lituites Bertrand, 1763; Pseudoancistroceras Xu & Lai, 1987; Sinoceroides Xu & Lai, 1987; Tapinolituites Gao, 1982; Trilacinoceras Sweet, 1958; Yangjiapingoceras Xu, 1977.