At present the order consists of some 16 families, a few of which, such as the Oncoceratidae, Brevicoceratidae, and Acleistoceratidae contain a fair number of genera each while others like the Trimeroceratidae and Archiacoceratidae are represented by only two or three (Sweet, 1964).

Later in the mature stages of early forms and throughout in the more advanced the connecting rings are inflated with cyrtochoanitic septal necks, giving what can be described as a "beaded" or "ellipsoidal" appearance (Sweet, 1964).

Near the beginning of the Devonian and well before its end, the Oncocerida gave rise to the Rutoceratidae (Flower, 1976; Kümmel, 1964), which form the root stock of the Nautilida, which among its members includes the modern Nautilus and Allonautilus.

Oncocerids are well known as fossils from the later Ordovician, Silurian, and Devonian in North America, Europe, and Australia, and to a lesser extent from parts of Asia, after which the order declined into the Mississippian and reached its end by the Pennsylvanian (late Carboniferous) (Flower, 1976; Sweet, 1964).

Flower, Teichert, and Kümmel, the Oncocerida gave rise to the Rutoceratidae which form the root stock of the Nautilida, which after a number of iterations, ends up with the modern Nautilus and Allonautilus.