They correspond to the family Lituitidae of the Treatise (Furnish & Glenister, 1964), reranked as an order and combined with other orthoceratoids.

Lituitids are characterized by smooth to annulate shells in which the juvenile portion near the apex is coiled or cyrtoconic.

Their diversity increased after the late Arenigian extinction (Floian-Dapingian) at the end of the Canadian Epoch and take a tumble following the early Cincinnatian (Sandbian) in the early Late Ordovician, from which the group never recovers.

[3] It is thought that they had a planktonic juvenile stage in their life cycle and that mature adults lived in the shallow waters of the open ocean.

Under this hypothesis, they would collectively form the superorder Astrovioidea (or order Astroviida), which was diagnosed based on extensive cameral deposits which partially obliterate the connecting rings.