Description. This genus, belonging to the subfamily Anahoplitinae, is less involute than Anahoplites. It has a compressed to very inflated whorl section and a rounded or fastigiate (roof-shaped) venter. Umbilical tubercles give rise to strong, bifurcated, sometimes trifurcated, non-lautiform ribs that terminate in ventrolateral nodes or swellings or extend to the siphonal line. Genus from the Upper Albian of Europe and Transcaspia (Wright, 1996).
Subgenera. The subgenus Pleurohoplites sensu stricto, type Ammonites renauxianus d'Orbigny, 1840 (upper drawing), is compressed, with more or less flat flanks and a fastigiate venter. The subgenus Arraphoceras Whitehouse, 1927, type Ammonites woodwardi Seeley, 1865, is inflated, with a rounded venter and prominent umbilical tubercles. The bifurcated ribs stop near the siphonal line, with terminations that are usually alternate. They bear ventrolateral bullae, which may persist. The forms with persistent ventrolateral bullae may also have a low, rounded keel, transitioning to genus Schloenbachia, but a separation in the form of a subgenus Praeschloenbachia, as proposed by Scholz (1973), does not seem necessary.
A few species. Since d'Orbigny's specimens are lost, P. (P.) renauxianus is left without a type specimen (Guérin-Franiatte in Fischer, 2006). P. (A.) studeri (Pictet & Campiche, 1860) has about thirty thin, widely spaced ribs, without distinct ventrolateral tubercles. The lower drawing shows a 75 mm specimen: in fact, younger specimens have more depressed, even kidney-shaped, whorls (Spath, 1928, p. 251). P. (A.) substuderi Spath, 1928, is smaller, with less depressed whorls and closer ribs. P. (A.) woodwardi (Seeley, 1865) has a more open umbilicus (O/D = 0.40) and a majority of trifurcated ribs. P. (A.) subtetragonum Spath, 1928, has very depressed whorls with a hexagonal cross-section, a flat venter, and ribs with distinct ventrolateral tubercles. Finally, P. (A.) briacensis Scholz, 1973, has a low, rounded ventral keel, foreshadowing the Cenomanian genus Schloenbachia.
Remarks. Juignet & Kennedy (1976) think that the genera Lepthoplites Spath, 1925, Pleurohoplites and Arraphoceras are merely variants of a single genus from which Schloenbachia is derived. According to Amédro (1992), the spectrum of variation would then extend from Leptohoplites falcoides Spath, 1925 (the most compressed), through P. (P.) renauxianus (medium form), to P. (A.) studeri (the thickest).