Rhynchonella

Rhynchonella
Temporal range: 466–37 Ma Ordovician – Eocene
Rhynchonella species from Russia
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Brachiopoda
Class: Rhynchonellata
Order: Rhynchonellida
Family: †Rhynchonellidae
Subfamily: †Rhynchonellinae
Genus: †Rhynchonella
Fischer de Waldheim, 1809

Rhynchonella is an extinct genus of brachiopods known from the Late Jurassic (Oxfordian) to the Early Cretaceous (Valanginian, possibly Barremian). Formerly this genus was understood much more widely (more or less an equivalent of the Rhynchonellida order in the present-day taxonomy) and less critical sources still list species of Rhynchonella from the Ordovician to the Eocene. Like most brachiopods, Rhynchonella was a stationary epifaunal suspension feeder.

Description

These 1.75 to 3.75 cm-long articulate brachiopods are characterized by a triangular shell with a spherical profile, powerful ribs, a curved hinge line and a small umbo. The anterior margin shows a tongue like projection.

Species

References

  1. ↑ Norman M. Savage et al., Rhynchonellida, [In:] Roger L. Kaesler (ed.), Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology. Part H, Brachiopoda, Revised, Volume 4: Rhynchonelliformea (part), Boulder, Colorado–Lawrence, Kansas: The Geological Society of America, Inc. and The University of Kansas, 2002, pp. 1026–1376.
  2. ↑ Ager, Derek V. (1957). "The true Rhynchonella". Palaeontology. 1 (1): 1–15.
  3. ↑ Rhynchonella in the Paleobiology Database
  4. ↑ "Short notes on Shell, Spirifer, Rhynchonella and Terebratula". Archived from the original on 2015-04-02. Retrieved 2015-03-01.