What is "goniatite"

Goniatite \Go"ni*a*tite\, n. [Gr. ? angle.] (Paleon.) One of an extinct genus of fossil cephalopods, allied to the Ammonites. The earliest forms are found in the Devonian formation, the latest, in the Triassic.

n. Any member of the extinct ''Goniatitida'', a taxonomic order of ammonites.

Goniatids, informally Goniatites, are ammonoid cephalopods that form the Order Goniatiida, derived from the more primitive Anarcestida during the Middle Devonian some 390 million years ago. Goniatites (goniatitida) survived the Late Devonian extinction to flourish during the Carboniferous and Permian only to become extinct at the end of the Permian some 139 million years later.