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Pedicle preservation in a Silurian rhynchonelliformean brachiopod from Herefordshire, England: soft-tissue or an artefact of interpretation?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 September 2007

Michael G. Bassett
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, National Museum of Wales, Cathays Park, Cardiff CF10 3NP, UK. E-mail: mike.bassett@museumwales.ac.uk
Leonid E. Popov
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, National Museum of Wales, Cathays Park, Cardiff CF10 3NP, UK. E-mail: mike.bassett@museumwales.ac.uk
Eva Egerquist
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, Palaeobiology, Uppsala University, Norbyvagen 22, SE 752 36, Uppsala, Sweden

Abstract

The interpretation of pedicle soft tissue preservation in a unique brachiopod specimen of Wenlock (Silurian) age from Herefordshire, western England, is re-assessed. Bethia serraticulma, assigned originally to the Orthida, is more probably a member of the Strophomenida (Plectambonitoidea). The supposed pedicle structure is more plausibly a weakly mineralised pedicle sheath, which is a common morphological and functional development in the early ontogeny of a number of Palaeozoic brachiopod lineages.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 2008

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