Rhynchonelliformea
Brachiopoda Strophomenata

Class Strophomenata

image © Bruce Moore, Taxonomy of the Articulate Brachiopoda

The Strophomenata are a wholly Paleozoic class; one of the two classes of advanced articulate brachiopods. They first appear in the middle Cambrian and continue through to the Late Permian. From the Devonian through to the Permian they are the most abundant of all brachiopods, adopting a large range of life-styles, including bivalve-like infaunal existence, and in another group, a coral-like growth habit. There are four orders, which are shown here:

Billingsellida Orthotetida Strophomenida

Productida

Billingsellida Orthotetida Strophomenida Productida

Many strophomenates may be identified by their supra-apically located pedicle foramen, at least in young shells. Adult strophomenids and productids lacked an open pedicle foramen, and usually lived attached to the bottom or to other objects by the pedicle valve.

There is also a tendency among productids to cement their shells to the substrate. Strophomenids may have a scar on the umbo that was apparently the point of attachment for the juvenile stage, and some extreme productids even adopted a coral-like existence.

Brachiopod main page
Brachiopoda main page

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page uploaded 7 June 2002
checked ATW051013
page by M. Alan Kazlev (Creative Commons Attribution license) 2002
this material may be freely used for non-commercial purposes