Strophomenida
Strophomenida Temporal range:
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An bryozoan .
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Brachiopoda |
Class: | †Strophomenata |
Order: | †Strophomenida Opik, 1934 |
Strophomenida is an extinct order of
Adult strophomenids lack an opening for the pedicle (stalk), so in life, they either lay free or cemented the ventral valve (lower shell) onto a firm substrate at the umbo (hinge). In juveniles, a tiny hole for the pedicle was present on the ventral valve near the umbo, but this is closed up through development. The dorsal valve was typically concave or flat, though occasionally it was convex; the ventral valve was always convex. The hinge line at the rear of the shell was quite wide and strophic in shape, meaning that it was nearly straight. Many strophomenid shells are wider than long. The interior of the valves have a distinctive pseudopunctate microtexture: deflections in the mineralized shell layers stack up and unfurl into tiny bumps, which are usually supported by calcite rods known as a taleolae.[3]
Subtaxa (superfamilies)
- †paraphyletic?)[4]
- †Strophomenoidea
Gallery
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Strophomenid brachiopod Leptaena from the Upper Ordovician of Iowa.
References
- ^ .
- S2CID 92364910.
- ^ Williams, Alwyn; Brunton, C.H.C.; Carlson, S.J.; et al. (1997–2007). Kaesler, Roger L.; Selden, Paul (eds.). Part H, Brachiopoda (Revised). Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology. Boulder, Colorado; Lawrence, Kansas: Geological Society of America; University of Kansas.
- ISSN 0031-0239.
Thompson, Ida (1982). National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Fossils. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. pp. 648.