Implications of the ‘hemihoplitid-like’ ammonites iterative morphology in the context of the late Tethyan Barremian (Early Cretaceous)

Hemihoplitidae evolution is well documented in the north-west Tethyan margin at the lower upper Barremian. In this context, the genus Lenicostites gen. nov. (L. rusticus), with ‘hemihoplitid-like’ morphology, is unexpected because of its age older than the earliest Hemihoplites and its evolutionary stasis that contrasts with the rapid changes of the Hemihoplitidae. Data show no connection between Hemihoplitidae and Lenicostitidae fam. nov. and...