1970  Hypergoniatites Ruzhentsev & Bogoslovskaia: 58.
     1971  Hypergoniatites.-Ruzhentsev & Bogoslovskaia: 212.
     1999  Hypergoniatites.-Korn, Klug & Mapes: 355.

Type species: Hypergoniatites exiguus Ruzhentsev & Bogoslovskaia, 1970, p.58 [OD].

A:   Conch form like Goniatites, usually with very narrow umbilicus.
B:   Growth lines faint, crenistriate, more or less linear.  
D:   Rarely with constrictions.
G:   Ventral lobe narrow at its base, orad very wide, with slightly curved sides; median saddle moderately low, prongs of
ventral lobe narrow. Adventitious lobe V-shaped with curved apical process.

[Ruzhentsev & Bogoslovskaia, 1970, p. 58]: Shell small, ranging from pachyconic to subdiscoconic. Sculpure very weak,
longitudinal or transverse. Ventral lobe very narrow  below, far broader above, with practically straight sides; its width
centrally considerably greater than width of lateral lobe. Ventral saddle low; hs/hl not exceeding 0.35-0.40. Branches of
ventral lobe very narrow, cuneiform. Lateral lobe fang-shaped, with slightly curved process.

The genus is distinguished from Goniatites by the comparatively small and much narrower shell. In the contour of the
suture line it is slightly reminiscent of the oldest Goniatites from the G. antiquatus BISAT group, but it is quite unlike later
species of the same genus. Hypergoniatites is sharply distinguished from Neogoniatites by the shape of the shell and
the completely different suture line contour.

[Ruzhentsev & Bogoslovskaia, 1971, p.212: Conch is not large, from pachycone to subdiscoidal.  Whorls are completely
involute and the umbilical wall part from each other only by the end of growth.  The umbilicus is very tight.  Weak
sculpture, spiral radial.  Ventral lobe is tight at the bottom, much wider on top, with almost straight
sides.  In the middle it is wider than the lateral lobe.  Medial saddle is very thin and has rounded tops.  Its height reaches
35-40% of the height of the whole lobe.  Elements of the ventral lobes are very narrow and wedge-shaped.  Lateral lobe
is not very wide, is canine-tooth-shaped and has an outgrowth which is somewhat turned to the umbilicus.]