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The brachiopod fauna of the South Atlantic is significantly abundant and appears to be predominantly composed of cosmopolitan species. However, until now there was no record of inarticulate brachiopods of the Family Lingulidae in this region. The present study describes the first occurrence of lingulid brachiopods in the South Atlantic. Seven specimens were collected on the continental shelf of the Maranhão state, Northeastern Brazil, Western South Atlantic. The individuals were identified as belonging to the genus Lingula. Although brachiopods have great dispersion capability durintg their larval phase, the hypothesis that these specimens arrived on the Brazilian coast as a result of human activities cannot be ruled out. Keywords: Lingula, subfilo Linguliformea, “Inarticulata”, inarticulate brachiopods, Brazil.

The material under study has previously been identified as Lingula krausei, collected from glacial erratics at Cape Rozewie, Poland. All specimens come from glauconitic sandstone of Cenomanian age. Dames (1874) identified his Lingula sp. as L. krausei which differs in shell outline from Lingula truncata. This species, dedicated to A. Krause, together with L. subovalis, is considered characteristic of the Cenomanian. Several new species and genera have recently been described or redescribed and compared to our specimens, here identified as Lingularia similis. By priority (ICZN, 1999), the type species L. similis is currently synonymized with Lingula krausei. A new genus Eolingularia, within the Family Lingulidae, is here described, with Lingularia siberica Biernat et Emig, 1993, as type species. This new genus ranges from the Carboniferous to the Triassic in Russia, China, and Spain. Possible synonymies are discussed.

During the period from 1976 to 2014, the distribution of brachiopods along the French Mediterranean coasts was particularly well investigated, especially in the Bathyal zone. From 1983 to 1989, the study of this zoological group was the aim of the RCP-CNRS No 728 whose data of the expeditions are the purpose of this ebook: the results concern five species occurring in the Upper Bathyal, i.e., Novocrania anomala, Gryphus vitreus, Terebratulina retusa, Megathiris detruncata, Platidia anomioides and Mergerlia truncata. They are developped over nine chapters, the latter two on the notebooks of samples in the surveyed stations and their distributional charts, as well as those of the five brachiopod species. The occurrences in Mediterranean biocoenoses have revealed biases with the systematics when restricted to shell characters because phylogenetic methods are needed in living species. Another highlight raises questions about the validity of some related fossil species, Terebratula minor (= Gryphus vitreus) is taken as example herein. Finally, the infestation of G. vitreus shells by the Ostreobium alga led to discuss again about the lower limit of the benthic phytal system and its bathymetric variations as far as in the Bathyal.

The specific diversity of Brachiopoda is proposed for the first time in an atlas of the Southern Ocean with maps for each genus in the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic zones. The three sub-phyla Linguliformea, Craniiformea and Rhynchonelliformea are represented: 51 species, belonging to 35 genera occur on a surface area covering about 20% of World Ocean. The low diversity is confirmed by only 12.6% of the total number of extant species of brachiopods (402) and 29.4% of that of the genera (119). The absence of reliable diagnoses in most of the species makes difficult some comparisons and attributions. In the future several of these species and even genera could be considered as synonymous.

Daniel Œhlert a fait toute sa carriere a Laval (Mayenne, France). Ses fonctions de bibliothecaire de la ville de Laval, puis de conservateur des musees d'archeologie et d'histoire naturelle de Laval, lui laissaient une independance pour se consacrer a la paleontologie et a la geologie. Avec son epouse Pauline, ils partageaient leurs recherches entre des etudes sur le terrain dans la Mayenne et la Sarthe et de longs sejours a Paris, surtout a la Sorbonne. Les travaux d'Œhlert ont principalement porte sur les peuplements des mers paleozoiques du Maine, de l'Anjou et du Cotentin. Œhlert se consacra plus particulierement a l'etude des Crinoides, des Trilobites et surtout des Brachiopodes. Dans leur collection, deposee au Musee des Sciences a Laval, on compte plus de 20 nouveaux genres avec plus de 150 nouvelles especes d'invertebres. L'œuvre geologique et stratigraphique d'Œhlert est largement originale ; elle ne concerne pratiquement que des terrains paleozoiques des departements de la Mayenne et de la Sarthe et, accessoirement, des departements de l'Orne et de l'Ille-et-Vilaine. En 1884, il devient collaborateur au Service de la Carte geologique de France. Une centaine de publications s'echelonnent de 1877 pour s'arreter brutalement en 1911 avec le deces de son epouse Pauline. La liste de tous ses travaux est fournie.

Appeltans, Ward ... et al., Background: The question of how many marine species exist is important because it provides a metric for how much we do and do not know about life in the oceans. We have compiled the first register of the marine species of the world and used this baseline to estimate how many more species, partitioned among all major eukaryotic groups, may be discovered. Results: There are ∿226,000 eukaryotic marine species described. More species were described in the past decade (∿20,000) than in any previous one. The number of authors describing new species has been increasing at a faster rate than the number of new species described in the past six decades. We report that there are ∿170,000 synonyms, that 58,000-72,000 species are collected but not yet described, and that 482,000-741,000 more species have yet to be sampled. Molecular methods may add tens of thousands of cryptic species. Thus, there may be 0.7-1.0 million marine species. Past rates of description of new species indicate there may be 0.5 ± 0.2 million marine species. On average 37% (median 31%) of species in over 100 recent field studies around the world might be new to science. Conclusions: Currently, between one-third and two-thirds of marine species may be undescribed, and previous estimates of there being well over one million marine species appear highly unlikely. More species than ever before are being described annually by an increasing number of authors. If the current trend continues, most species will be discovered this century. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd., WoRMS has benefited from funding as part of several EU projects: Network of Excellence in Marine Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning (MarBEF), Pan-European Species directories Infrastructure (PESI), Distributed Dynamic Diversity Databases for Life (4D4Life), the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), and the Census of Marine Life (CoML). It originated in the European Register of Marine Species (ERMS) that was funded by the EU Marine Science and Technology (MAST) research program

The Brattingsborg pennies are mentioned in medieval texts dating from the middle of the first millennium and many popular medieval legends refer to their occurrence on Ivo Island in the Scania region (Sweden) as brattingsborgpenningar or in Latin as Nummulus brattenburgensis. Actually they are valves of the fossil brachiopod Crania craniolaris originally described by Linnaeus (1758) as Anomia craniolaris from the Upper Cretaceous. Later Retzius (1781) created the genus Crania based on these specimens from Ivo Island and on another species he described under Crania (now Isocrania) egnabergensis from Ignaberga in the Scania region. The scientific history of those two species is reviewed along with that of Danocrania tuberculata (Nilsson, 1826), formerly figured as Craniolites brattenburgicus, from the Danian of Scania. Two legends about these "pennies" are included..

The detailed structure of the lophophore is a key diagnostic character in the definition of higher brachiopod taxa. The problematic Heliomedusa orienta Sun and Hou, from the Lower Cambrian Chengjiang Lagerstatte of Yunnan, southwestern China, has a well-preserved lophophore, which is unlike that of any known extant or extinct brachiopods. Based on a comparative study of lophophore disposition in H. orienta and the extant discinid Pelagodiscus atlanticus, the in- and excurrent pattern and shell orientation of H. orienta are described and discussed. Reconstructions of lophophore shape and function are based on numerous specimens and comparison with P. atlanticus. The lophophore is composed of a pair of lophophoral arms that freely arch posteriorly rather than coiling anteriorly as commonly seen in fossil and recent lingulids. The lophophore is attached to the dorsal lobe of the mantle; it has neither calcareous nor chitinous supporting structures, and is disposed symmetrically on either side of the valve midline. The mouth can be inferred to be located at the base of the two brachial tubes, slightly posterior to the anterodorsal projection of the body wall. The lophophoral arms bear laterofrontal tentacles with a double row of cilia along their lateral edge, as in extant lingulid brachiopods. The main brachial axes are also ciliated, which presumably facilitated transport of mucous-bound nutrient particles to the mouth. The unique organization of the lophophore in Heliomedusa is not like any known fossil and living brachiopods. This clearly demonstrates that H. orienta is not a member of any crown group. It is here considered as a member of the brachiopod stem group, which challenges recent interpretations of a close discinid affinity. (C) 2009 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Brachiopods, a group of benthic suspension-feeding marine invertebrates, made their first appearance in the Lower Cambrian. In the Yangtze Platform (South China), well-exposed Lower Cambrian stratigraphic succession represents shallow to deeper water environments. Strata from eastern Yunnan, southern Shaanxi and the Yangtze gorges areas of western Hubei Province, deposited in muddy-siltstone and carbonate lithofacies, contained an abundant variety of brachiopods, including all the representatives of the subphylum Linguliformea and the calcareous-shelled genera of Kutorgina and Nisusia from the subphylum Rhynchonelliformea. Thus the fossil assemblage bears witness to the first major phase of evolutionary radiation of brachiopods during the ‘Cambrian explosion’ interval of metazoans. Brachiopods from the celebrated Chengjiang fauna have exquisitely preserved soft-tissues, which reveal the body plans and evolutionary acquisition of morphological novelties of the early stocks, and also provide a good opportunity for testing the analogies with the stem groups from the extant representatives. These fossils have corroborated the view that brachiopods developed complex organization of tissues, and achieved considerable evolutionary success already by the onset of ‘Cambrian Explosion’. Thus it is not improbable that a large part of this radiation occurred within, or only just before early Cambrian time. Studies of Chengjiang brachiopods suggest that attachment by a pedicle to the substrate was probably the most common relationship of Cambrian brachiopods with the substrate where they inhabited.

Cosmopolitan kutorginates, the most abundant Early Cambrian rhynchonelliformean brachiopods, became extinct at the end of the Middle Cambrian. Consequently, any information concerning the anatomy of this peculiar lineage of brachiopods has great phylogenetic significance with regard to their extant relatives for analogies with the stem-group clade. Such data have been supplied from fos- sils of which the soft parts have been preserved in excep- tional detail. A new brachiopod, Kutorgina chengjiangensis sp. nov., from the Early Cambrian Chengjiang Lagerstatte of southern China, is described here. It is the first articu- lated brachiopod species collected from this deposit. The specimens preserve a set of soft-body parts, i.e. lophophore, digestive tract and pedicle, all previously poorly known in almost all Palaeozoic calcareous brachiopod taxa. The loph- ophore attains an early spirolophe stage, clearly homologous to that in the coeval lingulids. The digestive tract consists of a mouth, oesophagus, swollen stomach, intestine and a terminal anus. The pedicle protruding between the valves is stout and elongate, with annulated lamellae on the surface, and contains a putative cœlomic cavity. K. chengjiangensis displays the characteristics of the stem group of calcareous brachiopods, and illustrates anatomical similarities between Cambrian phosphatic- and calcareous-shelled brachiopods, thus corroborating that the Brachiopoda are a monophyletic group.

The brachiopod Lingula dregeri Andreae, 1893 has been found in the Middle Miocene of southwestern France, at Salles. This is the first record of the genus Lingula Bruguiere from the Miocene of France. Good preservation makes it possible for us to offer the first diagnosis of this species and to complete its description. Examination of the occurrences of Lingula in the Miocene of Europe revealed that all of them are one species, L. dregeri. The Serravallian environment at Salles was marine, sublittoral and sheltered, with a substrate of fine carbonated sands, laid down in subtropical-to-warm temperate waters.

References to Terebratulina caputserpentis attributing its authorship to Zbyszewski, 1957, not to Linnaeus, 1767, have been found in three recent publications, in the collections of the Museum National d'Histoire naturelle de Paris and in several online databases. The use in these databases seems to have arisen from WoRMS (World Register of Marine Species), specifically from WBD (World Brachiopoda Database) of which the three authors of this paper are the editors (authors). The page concerning T. caputserpentis (Linnaeus, 1767) has been modified by WoRMS staff without the knowledge of these editors (authors). The decrease of the specialists in systematics and their replacement by IT specialists question the scientific reliability of the online databases as well as the specimen labelling in museums. The absence of scientific rigour becomes their Achilles' heel. Several other cases of errors are quoted and developed. In spite of applications to the staff of databases in biodiversity, the situation continued degrading so much so that today these bases are reached by the Peter principle and can no longer be used for scientific requirements, except if verifying all the desired data.

The fossil record holds a wealth of ecological data, including data on biotic interactions. For example, holes in the skeletons of invertebrates produced by drilling activities of their enemies are widely used for exploring the intensity of such interactions through time because they are common and easily distinguished from non-biotic holes or holes produced by other types of interactions. Such drill holes have been described in numerous studies of Palaeozoic brachiopods but rarely in those focusing on brachiopods of the post-Palaeozoic, a striking pattern given that in the late Mesozoic and Cenozoic drilling gastropods diversified and frequencies of drilled molluscs increased dramatically. During the past several years, however, drilled brachiopods were reported in several studies of the Mesozoic and Cenozoic, suggesting that this phenomenon may be more common than has been previously assumed. Here we report on drilled brachiopods from a Pliocene locality in Algeria where 90 of 261 (34.5%) specimens of Megerlia truncata show evidence of predatory drilling. These data confirm that Cenozoic drilling frequencies of brachiopods may be locally high and, when taken together with other published data, that drilling frequencies are highly heterogeneous in space and time.

The specimens previously described as Lingula antarctica Buckman from late Eocene strata on Seymour Island, Antarctic Peninsula, should be assigned to the genus Glottidia. The morphological features and taxonomic charac- ters of G. antarctica are described and illustrated and com- pared with those of other known species of Glottidia. A full description of G. antarctica is provided and the diagnosis of the genus is emended. Variations in the disposition of the septa and in the shape of the pedicle groove are viewed as evolutionary features among the Glottidia. Glottidia antarctica probably lived in shallow, nearshore warm-temperate waters of normal salinity, perhaps in the intertidal zone. The pres- ence of Glottidia rather than Lingula in the Antarctic Peninsula is consistent with the known geographical distribu- tion of fossil and living Glottidia, i.e. restricted to the coasts of the American continent and Europe where Glottidia has been recorded in strata of Tertiary age.

International audience; This study points out some basic problems of linguloid systematics and proposes solutions for them. A taxonomic examination of the unique species of the genus Obolus found in the Upper Cambrian of Estonia and Russia, O. apollinis (= O. ruchini, O. transversus, O. rebrovi and Ungula convexa) is used as an example of a methodology employing all of the characters valid for distinguishing species of both extant and fossil Lingulidae. These characters are: - umbonal region; - body musculature; - septa or ridges; - main mantle canals - as established and figured by EMIG (1982, 1983) and BIERNAT and EMIG (1993). All of them have been determined to be taxonomically stable and have been studied and compared to take into account intraspecific variability; they should be used to describe or to redescribe any taxon of the superfamily Linguloidea. Characters of the shell and valves, such as shape, size, and dimensional ratios have no taxonomic value. ––– Des outils pour la taxinomie des Lingulidoida : le genre Obolus (Brachiopoda) pris comme exemple.- Cette étude met en exergue des problèmes fondamentaux de la systématique des Linguloïdes et propose des solutions méthodologiques basées sur les caractères utilisés pour identifier les espèces de Lingulides actuelles et fossiles. L'unique espèce du genre Obolus, O. apollinis (= O. ruchini, O. transversus, O. rebrovi and Ungula convexa), récoltée dans divers gisements du Cambrien moyen et supérieur en Estonie et Russie, sert ici d'exemple. Les caractères sont : - la région umbonale ; - la musculature du corps ; - les septums et crêtes internes ; - les canaux du manteau ; selon la description et la représentation faites par EMIG (1982, 1983) et BIERNAT et EMIG (1993). Tous ces caractères se sont révélés taxinomiquement stables tout en présentant une relative variabilité intraspécifique ; ils sont donc à être utilisés pour décrire ou redécrire tous les taxons de la superfamille des Linguloidea. Il convient de souligner que les caractères de la coquille ou des valves, tels que formes, tailles, rapports dimensionnels n'ont aucune valeur taxinomique.

During the Middle Triassic marine transgression in Spain, several lingulide populations were fossilized in the Iberian Range (western part of Sephardic Province) and the recorded specimens have been described previously under several specific names. The paleontological aspects of the Jalance (Valencia province) section have been studied for the first time. Its exceptionally large population was fossilized in situ as flat-lying valves and can be interpreted as an autochthonous association related to a very shallow marine environment. The lingulide specimens belong to the genus Lingularia Biernat & Emig , 1993 , but the species name remains under debate, probably Lingularia smirnovae. Internal morphology and shell characters are described and compared with other Lingularia species.

δ18O values of both carbonate (18.7–25.1‰) and phosphate (15.1–16.7‰) components of the francolite from the fossil brachiopod shells are interpreted as the result of a partial resetting of pristine isotopic compositions. The similarity of hat-shape REE patterns of some lower Ordovician linguloids with those of extant littoral specimens suggests the preservation of a 500 Myr-old record of REE marine chemistry. In agreement with the known paleogeography, the phosphatic brachiopods have been deposited in a coastal environment under shallow and oxygenated marine waters. However, the contents and distribution of REE in some strongly altered brachiopod shells reveal an alteration of the original negative Ce anomalies and both Nd and Sm enrichments that transformed the initial hat-shape patterns of linguloids into strongly convex or bell-shape patterns.

Emig Christian. Quand l'écologue interpelle le chrétien. In: Autres Temps. Cahiers d'éthique sociale et politique. N°59, 1998. pp. 97-104.

Lingulids are inarticulate brachiopods, with phosphatic shells, which live exclusively in marine waters. Their distribution is generally restricted to the continental shelf, within the 40° belt from temperate to equatorial areas. They show a range of morphological, physiological, and behavioral features that have remained remarkably constant since the Cambrian. The oxygen isotope fractionation between water and phosphate from living lingulids was determined as a tool to investigate the temperature and/or salinity of past coastal seawater. Oxygen isotope measurements were performed according to the silver phosphate method on a collection of lingulids coming from well-known and varied marine environments. A global δ18O variation of 3.5‰ was found for these lingulids which proves their good sensitivity to environmental factors namely the oxygen isotope composition and the temperature of seawater. Oceanographic data provided average temperature and salinity values in the living sites of the studied specimens. Least squares treatment of the data gave the following fractionation equation: T(°C) = 112.2 ± 15.3 − 4.20 ± 0.71[δ18O(PO4) − δ18O(H2O)]; which is similar to the equations determined by Longinelli and Nuti (1973a) and Kolodny et al. (1983) for other phosphate-bearing invertebrates and fishes. All these results suggest that a unique equation describes the phosphate-water fractionation of many marine organisms except for mammals.

Bien que la collection Risso n'ait pas ete retrouvee, la liste de douze especes actuelles et treize especes fossiles de brachiopodes recensees et decrites par Risso (1826) dans les environs maritimes et terrestres de Nice merite revision en prenant en compte les mises en synonymie recentes. En y ajoutant Argyrotheca cistellula signalee en 1920, la liste des especes actuelles de brachiopodes recoltees en mer Mediterranee est restee la meme jusqu'en 1994, date a partir de laquelle elle augmente de deux especes. Trois des especes decrites par Risso sous le nom de genre Terebratula lui restent attribuees : Joania cordata, Argyrotheca cuneata, Lacazella mediterranea, elles sont toutes trois l'espece-type de leur genre. Quant aux especes fossiles, seules deux ont pu etre identifiees, comme synonymes de Terebratula terebratula. Plusieurs fois critique, parfois avec trop de severite, pour ses travaux sur les Mollusques, auxquels appartenaient aussi a l'epoque les Brachiopodes, Risso (1826) comme naturaliste amateur a realise un travail parfaitement honorable sur les Brachiopodes, en tout comparable a ceux de la plupart de ses contemporains et successeurs sur ce groupe.

Le genre Thecidea a ete illustre avant d'etre decrit ce qui a donne lieu a des interpretations diverses et erronees, notamment par des auteurs anglophones. Ce travail montre qu'il doit indubitablement etre attribue a Defrance in Cuvier & Brongniart (1822). Les autres descriptions derivees du nom originel Thecidea sont des nomen nullum, et sont en partie responsable de confusion et d'erreurs avant que ce genre n'eclate en plusieurs nouveaux genres repartis dans diverses autres familles et sous-familles. En outre, Thecidea ne comporte plus aujourd'hui que des especes fossiles. L'histoire de l'attribution du nom d'auteur a ce genre est decrite en detail au cours du XIXe siecle. L'espece-type et ses synonymes, ainsi que la classification du genre Thecidea sont mentionnees.

Various ichnotaxa found in hard substrates are interpreted as "phoronid" trace fossils. Their records are briefly reviewed. An interpretation of Diorygma found in the shells of brachiopods is not compatible with phoronid morphology and anatomy. Criteria for the discrimination of phoronid burrows and borings from those of similar organisms from others are difficult to establish even when the evidence and conclusions made therefrom are sound.

Emig, C. C. 1992 07 15: Functional disposition of the lophophore in living Brachiopoda. The shape and disposition of adult brachiopod lophophores relate to in- and excurrent apertures. to the internal water irrigation system, to shell orientation at substratum and to near-bottom currents. The arrangement of the mantle canals and gonads of different lophophores are induccd by water circulation. The trocholophe (2% of living species) is considered as a plesiomorphic character which represents the basic plan of the lophophore, shared by all Lophophorata. Three different types of schizolophe (10%) are represented in terebratuloids, thecidioids and discinids. The spirolophe (19%), characteristic of rhynchonellides and most inarticulate brachiopods, except the schizolophe Pelagodiscus, has evolved divergently into specific arrangements of the mantle canals and gonads. The zygo-plectolophe (67%) is characteristic of most Terebratulida. The ptycholophe (2%) probably evolved independently in Megathlris and the thecidioids. The mesolophe, known in the fossil chonetdceans, is considered to be a primitive zygo-plectolophe. The median brachiopod sulcus increases the efficiency of the excurrent system and is considered as an evolved character but a homoplasy within the brachiopods. The characteristics of Recent lophophore types have to be taken into account when reconstructing the lophophore in fossil forms. Brachiopoda, Lophophorata, lophophore, water system, orientation, evolution.

Resume Dans le debat entre les tenants d'une concurrence directe entre les Brachiopodes et les Mollusques Bivalves, et ceux pour lesquels la substitution des Bivalves aux Brachiopodes dans les communautes benthiques a partir du Mesozoique n'est que la consequence de potentialites evolutives differentes, nous proposons une analyse critique et objective des donnees disponibles et de leur interpretation. L'etude quantitative des informations (celles du Treatise) associees a l'analyse des donnees ecologiques nous conduisent a opter en faveur d'une indifference globale des deux groupes dans leurs processus evolutifs respectifs; ces processus ont ete acceleres et/ou gravement perturbes lors des grandes crises climatiques survenues au cours du Phanerozoique.

The classic Chengjiang Lagerstätte (Lower Cambrian, Atdabanian stage: Yu'anshan Formation) Yunnan, southwestern China, has yielded, besides the exceptional and often controversial soft-bodied fossils, a fauna of primitive/early lingulid brachiopods. Diandongia pista (Rong 1974) is one of the commonest and most strongly mineralized of the phosphatic brachiopods from the Lagerstätte. The shells of this species have been found to commonly serve as a basibiont host. Epibionts comprise the coeval brachiopod Longtancunella chengjiangensis and the cone-shaped cnidarian-related Archotuba conoidalis , as well as rounded smaller-sized epizoans (lesser than 2 mm). A principle morphological analysis demonstrates that the ovoid and rounded organisms that often occur along the commissure of D. pista resemble small juvenile or immature brachiopods. Epibiont-bearing shells of D. pista with soft-tissue preservation demonstrate that the host brachiopods were overgrown while alive, and provide an argument for D. pista having a semi-infaunal life style with only the slim pedicle embedded in sediment. The epibiotic association sheds direct light on the ecology of Cambrian brachiopods in soft-substrate marine environments. The Chengjiang fossils demonstrate that the Early Cambrian brachiopods, as compared with recent lingulids, occupied different and a wider spectrum of ecological niches and tiers of space.

The first descriptions of Lingula were made from then extant specimens by three famous French scientists: Bruguière, Cuvier, and Lamarck. The genus Lingula was created in 1791 (not 1797) by Bruguière and in 1801 Lamarck named the first species L. anatina, which was then studied by Cuvier (1802). In 1812 the first fossil lingulids were discovered in the Mesozoic and Palaeozoic strata of the U.K. and were referred to Lingula on the basis of similarity in the form of the shell. In the 1840's other linguliform brachiopods from the Palaeozoic were described. The similarity of the shell form of the extant Lingula and these fossils led Darwin in 1859 to create the description "living fossil" in his book "On the Origin of Species". Thereafter, this Darwinian concept became traditional in that Lingula was considered to lack morphological evolutionary changes. Although denounced as scientifically incorrect for more than two decades, the concept still remains in many books, publications and Web sites, perhaps a witness to palaeontological conservatism.

International audience; Large collections of the brachiopod obolid Schmidtites celatus have been gathered from Upper Cambrian-Lower Ordovician strata in four northern Estonian localities. The morphological features and the taxonomic characters of the genus and of the single species representing it are re-described and illustrated. New diagnoses are proposed based on characters of the shell and morphological traits that permit Schmidtites celatus to be compared with and distinguished from the other obolid genera occurring in the same samples or areas, i.e. Ungula ingrica, Oepikites, and Obolus apollinis which now includes specimens formerly described as Ungula convexa. Schmidtites celatus differs from them mainly in the arrangement of its musculature.

International audience; The deep-water fauna of the Mediterranean is characterized by an absence of distinctive characteristics and by a relative impoverishment. Both are a result of events after the Messinian salinity crisis (Late Miocene). The three main classes of phenomena involved in producing or recording these effects are analysed and discussed: - Historical: Sequential faunal changes during the Pliocene and thereafter in particular those during the Quaternary glaciations and still in progress. - Bathymetric: Changes in the vertical aspects of the Bathyal and Abyssal zones that took place under peculiar conditions, i.e. homothermy, a relative oligotrophy, the barrier of the Gibraltar sill, and water mass movement. The deeper the habitat of a species in the Mediterranean, the more extensive is its distribution elsewhere. - Geographical: There are strong affinities and relationships between Mediterranean and Atlantic faunas. Endemic species remain a biogeographical problem. Species always become smaller in size eastward where they occupy a progressively deeper habitat. Thus, the existing deep Mediterranean Sea appears to be younger than any other deep-sea constituent of the World Ocean. ––– Faune profonde en Mer Méditerranée : les échanges historiques, géographiques et bathymétriques.- Le benthos profond méditerranéen est caractérisé par une absence d'originalité et une pauvreté dont les raisons sont à rechercher dans l'histoire récente de la faune. Trois types principaux d‘échanges ont été distingués : - les échanges historiques à travers les changements de faunes depuis le Pliocène et durant les glaciations du Quaternaire ; - les échanges bathymétriques au sein des étages Bathyal et Abyssal soumis à des conditions très particulières (homothermie, relative oligotrophie, barrière du seuil de Gibraltar, circulation des masses d'eaux) ; plus profonde est l'extension des espèces en Mer Méditerranée et plus large est leur distribution hors Méditerranée ; - les échanges géographiques avec des affinités étroites entre Mer Méditerranée et Océan Atlantique. Le cas des espèces endémiques reste un problème biogéographique. Les espèces ont toujours une distribution plus profonde en allant vers l'Est et leur taille devient plus petite. Ainsi, la Mer Méditerranée profonde actuelle apparaît comme une mer beaucoup plus jeune qu'aucune autre partie de l'Océan mondial profond.

version française de l'article hal-00142233; International audience; Le benthos profond méditerranéen est caractérisé par une absence d'originalité et une pauvreté dont les raisons sont à rechercher dans l'histoire récente de la faune. Trois types principaux d‘échanges ont été distingués : - les échanges historiques à travers les changements de faunes depuis le Pliocène et durant les glaciations du Quaternaire ; - les échanges bathymétriques au sein des étages Bathyal et Abyssal soumis à des conditions très particulières (homothermie, relative oligotrophie, barrière du seuil de Gibraltar, circulation des masses d'eaux) ; plus profonde est l'extension des espèces en Mer Méditerranée et plus large est leur distribution hors Méditerranée ; - les échanges géographiques avec des affinités étroites entre Mer Méditerranée et Océan Atlantique. Le cas des espèces endémiques reste un problème biogéographique. Les espèces ont toujours une distribution plus profonde en allant vers l'Est et leur taille devient plus petite. Ainsi, la Mer Méditerranée profonde actuelle apparaît comme une mer beaucoup plus jeune qu'aucune autre partie de l'Océan mondial profond. Abstract: The Mediterranean deep-sea fauna: historical evolution, bathymetric variations and geographical changes. ––– The deep-water fauna of the Mediterranean is characterized by an absence of distinctive characteristics and by a relative impoverishment. Both are a result of events after the Messinian salinity crisis (Late Miocene). The three main classes of phenomena involved in producing or recording these effects are analysed and discussed: - Historical: Sequential faunal changes during the Pliocene and thereafter in particular those during the Quaternary glaciations and still in progress. - Bathymetric: Changes in the vertical aspects of the Bathyal and Abyssal zones that took place under peculiar conditions, i.e. homothermy, a relative oligotrophy, the barrier of the Gibraltar sill, and water mass movement. The deeper the habitat of a species in the Mediterranean, the more extensive is its distribution elsewhere. - Geographical: There are strong affinities and relationships between Mediterranean and Atlantic faunas. Endemic species remain a biogeographical problem. Species always become smaller in size eastward where they occupy a progressively deeper habitat. Thus, the existing deep Mediterranean Sea appears to be younger than any other deep-sea constituent of the World Ocean.

Since early in the 19th Century the taxonomy of fossil obolids has been the subject of numerous controversies (Table 1), so the development of new criteria for their proper differentiation is mandatory. Based on the extant species of the family Lingulidae (Emig, 1982, 1983) and later applied to fossil taxa (Biernat and Emig, 1993), new morpho-anatomical characters were established and their variability analysed. As a consequence, several shell structures commonly used to discriminate between genera and species of both extant and fossil taxa were determined to have no phylogenetic status.

The lophophore, an essential organ of the Brachiopoda, has been used widely in evolutionary and advanced phylogenetic studies, but is hitherto unknown in the fossil record. Here, the extraordinarily well-preserved lophophores of two inarticulated brachiopods Lingulella chengjiangensis and Heliomedusa orienta, from the Lower Cambrian Chengjiang fauna (Yunnan, China) are described. These primitive lophophores, respectively, trocholophous and schizolophous, have some key characters that may be plesiomorphies inherited by their recent descendants. This discovery provides direct evidence regarding the taxonomy, ecosystems and early evolution of inarticulated brachiopods.

International audience; Lingula is often considered a "living-fossil" based on its supposed lengthy morphological conservatism owing to its absence of evolution, and its remarkable survival for more than 550 M.Y. This conclusion is based on the typical apparently unchanged "linguliform" shape of the shell. However the taxa of the family Lingulidae show morphological evolutionary changes despite the fact that the group appears panchronic among the Recent Brachiopoda. Consequently, traditional opinion that Lingula is a "living-fossil" should be rejected. Diagnoses of the Family Lingulidae and of its three genera are herewith emended. Résumé : Preuves que Lingula (Brachiopoda) n'est pas un fossile vivant, avec de nouvelles diagnoses pour les taxons de la Famille des Lingulidae. ––– Lingula est souvent considérée comme un fossile-vivant, voire le plus ancien actuellement connu, à cause de son long conservatisme morphologique basé sur une supposée absence d'évolution, ainsi qu'en raison de sa remarquable survie depuis plus de 550 MA. Cette assertion est basée sur une forme inchangée de la coquille, dite "linguliforme". Cependant, les taxons de la famille des Lingulidae montrent des changements évolutifs de la morphologie et de l'anatomie interne bien que ce groupe puisse être considéré comme panchronique au sein des Brachiopoda actuels. Il est démontré que l'opinion traditionnellement véhiculée selon laquelle les Lingula seraient des fossiles vivants doit être rejetée. En conséquence, de nouvelles diagnoses sont proposées pour la famille des Lingulidae et pour les trois genres pouvant s'y rapporter avec certitude.

15 páginas, 4 figuras., [EN] Within the Lower Ordovician of SW Europe, lingulid beds are frequently recorded in the uppermost part of the Armorican Quartzite Formation or at the base of the overlying unit of dark shales. They have a broad geographical extension, particularly in the Hesperian and Armorican Massifs. The lingulid horizons occur within littoral fine to medium sands deposited on flat and relatively stable areas, without tide, however under storm influence. The large lingulids which characterize these facies were living in conditions similar to those of the extant lingulides. Two types of lingulid beds are described. Type A forms lags with lamination, from some millimetres to several centimetres thick, at the base of or within quartzo-sandstone strata. It originated through sedimentary floods of coarse particles, probably transported by rivers during periods of heavy rains which also induced large salinity decreases. Type B, the most common, consists of conglomeratic coquinoid beds, associated with sandstone and quartzitic layers, containing phosphatic and sideritic pebbles and heavy minerals, embedded in a matrix with a huge concentration of fragments of lingulid valves and sometimes of some other fossils, i.e. bivalves and microarthropods. The coquinas are related to erosive discontinuities at the base of sandstone sequences with hummocky cross stratification. They originated during very short catastrophic events which induced unconformable deposits of valve fragments in the littoral zone. Most of the most widespread beds of type B were probably deposited during hurricanes or tsunamis, the latter related to explosive volcanism on the perigondwanan shallow shelves. Numerous evidences of acid volcanism of explosive type at the end of the Arenig are documented in the upper part of the Armorican Quartzite in the Iberian Peninsula. Nevertheless, at least one of the thickest deposits of type B does not belong to a tempestite but could have formed through a coastal upwelling of phosphate-rich waters in which large lingulid populations could develop., [FR] A l'Ordovicien inférieur, les niveaux d'accumulations de lingulidés à la limite supérieure du GrèsArmoricain ou à la base des schistes noirs qui lui succèdent ont une grande extension géographique dans les Massifs Hespérique et Armoricain. Ils sont intercalés dans des faciès littoraux à sables fins à moyens, déposés en zones plates relativement stables, sans marées, mais soumises aux effets de tempêtes. Les lingulidés caractéristiques de ces faciès sont dominés par des genres de grande taille, vivant dans des conditions similaires aux lingules actuelles. Deux types d'accumulations de lingulidés sont décrits. Le Type A, correspondant à des niveaux de grès grossiers avec lamination, forme des concentrations, de quelques millimètres à quelques centimètres d'épaisseur, à la base ou dans les bancs quartzo-gréseux. Il se met en place lors d'un apport sédimentaire en particules grossières, probablement en relation avec des périodes de pluies intenses induisant aussi une baisse prolongée de la salinité. Le Type B, le plus fréquent, est représenté par des lumachelles dans des bancs de grès ou de quartzites. Ce sont des horizons conglomératiques massifs, à contenu mal trié avec des galets phosphatés, sidéritiques, et des minéraux lourds, dans une matrice à forte concentration de fragments de lingulidés et occasionnellement d'autres restes fossiles (bivalves, microarthropodes). Leur formation est liée à des phénomènes catastrophiques très limités dans le temps, produisant des accumulations de fragments de valves, discordantes sur le substrat sous-jacent, en zone littorale, comme des tempêtes exceptionnelles ou même des tsunamis liés à un volcanisme explosif sur la plate-forme périgondwanienne. Cependant, le dépôt de type B le plus épais ne correspond pas à une tempestite: il pourrait être expliqué par la proximité d'un upwelling côtier d'eaux riches en phosphate, favorisant l'installation d'importantes populations de lingulidés., Ce travail a été réalisé dans le cadre du Projet AMB92-1037-C02-01 (1992-1995) du PN I+D (Comisión Interministerial de Ciencias y Tecnología, Espagne). Les recherches dans le Nord-Ouest de l'Espagne font partie des projets PB 91-0671 et PB 94-1330 de la DGICYT et ont été financées par cette dernière, la partie française (C.C.E.) l'a été par I'URA 41 du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique.

The number of living brachiopod genera and species recorded to date, are 116 and 391, respectively. The phylum Brachiopoda is divided into three subphyla: Linguliformea, Craniiformea and Rhynchonelliformea. Although they were extremely common throughout the Paleozoic, today they are considered a minor phylum, and only five orders have extant representatives: Lingulida, with two families, 6 genera and 25 species; Craniida, with one family, 3 genera and 18 species; Rhynchonellida, with 6 families, 19 genera and 39 species; Thecideida, with two families, 6 genera and 22 species; and Terebratulida, with 18 families, 82 genera, and 287 species.

To estimate vertical thermal gradients and paleo–water depths to marine platforms we present a new method based on the difference between δ 18 O values of contemporaneous brachiopod carbonate and fish phosphate. Present-day marine fauna of well-known ecology from the surface to the sea floor record isotopic temperatures that agree with measured temperatures. We predict distributions of isotopic data that result from sampling strategy, basin morphology, and fauna ecology and discuss limitations. Application of the method to the Jurassic Paris-London basin gives vertical thermal variations of up to 14 °C associated with depths varying from a few meters to 170 ± 30 m. The estimated depths are minimum values and are greater than those estimated from sedimentological criteria for this ancient epicontinental sea.

Resume Dans la baie de Kaneohe (Oahu, Hawai), Lingula reevei Davidson vit dans des sediments infralittoraux sableux. Sa distribution est principalement affectee par la nature du substrat, la presence d'especes predatrices ou fouisseuses, et la nourriture disponible. La meiofaune a ete etudiee et comparee entre les stations dans lesquelles L. reevei a ete recoltee. Les contenus stomacaux et intestinaux ont ete finement analyses, pour la premiere fois chez Lingula : l'apport de nourriture provient en majorite de la faune et flore superficielles. L. reevei filtre en continu; la disposition de la ciliation formant les trois ouvertures siphonales caracteristiques a la surface du sediment a ete precisee. Aucune orientation en fonction de la direction du courant n'a pu etre mise en evidence, mais ceci n'est pas a exclure. L'ancrage au fond du terrier, ainsi que la longueur du terrier, est fonction de la nature du substrat. L'animal est incapable de changer de terrier ou de s'enfouir quand il est pose sur le sediment, contrairement aux observations decrites chez Glottidia pyramidata ; par contre, il est capable de compenser une sedimentation moderee, meme si la lingule doit autotomiser son pedoncule (qui regenere ensuite). Une courbe permettant une estimation de l'âge de Lingula reevei en fonction de la longueur de la coquille est proposee et comparee a celle de L. anatina. L. reevei ne peut supporter que pendant quelques jours des conditions de milieu defavorables, qui, si elles persistent, entrainent la mort des individus, avec sortie du terrier pour des salinites inferieures a 15‰, et, en place dans le terrier pour des salinites superieures a 40 ‰ et/ou lors de l'emersion du substrat. La tolerance a la dessication ne depasse guere 3 jours.

Resume Au cours de 21 recoltes, echelonnees sur 18 mois, 1725 formules musculaires ont ete etablies chez Phoronis psammophila Cori. L'etude des variations du nombre et de la repartition des muscles longitudinaux demontre une augmentation du nombre de muscles, de l'ordre de 3 a 4, avec l'âge des animaux. Cette augmentation est difficilement mise en evidence a cause de l'interaction de nombreux facteurs biologiques, notamment la reproduction. Les tests statistiques n'ont pas ete, de ce fait, significatifs. Contrairement a l'hypotheseemise par Emig, les formules generales et surtout moyennes ne traduisent pas ou peu l'accroissement de la musculature en fonction du temps.

Trois types de parois ont ete decrits dans l'appareil circulatoire du tronc dePhoronis psammophila. La succession des diverses couches de chaque type est la suivante: 1. cellules “peritoneales” — lame basale — rares cellules endotheliales; 2. cellules myoepitheliales — lame basale — rares cellules endotheliales; 3. une couche de muscles circukires, puis une de muscles longitudinaux — epaisse lame basale — endothelium continu.

A terminology (in three languages) of the main descriptive terms of the anatomy of the phylum Phoronida is established and proposed to facilitate communication in future anatomical studies and taxonomical works. A brief discussion is given of the names (Latin and common) of this phylum. The present note must be considered as a preliminary work on nomenclature problems.

Some traditional concepts on lingulid paleoecology are reviewed and discussed in regard to new data on the ecology of Recent lingulid brachiopods. Fossilization in life-position occurs under several ecological conditions, e.g. dessication or emersion of the substratum, prolonged increase in salinity, perhaps very rapid sedimentation, extreme changes in temperature, and fossilization of flat-lying shells occurs under prolonged reduction in salinity, storms, natural death. Catastrophic environmental changes cause the fossilization of lingulids. Such events may affect one or more ecological features which may have a direct or indirect effect on the lingulid biology. At this time, the biotype does not correspond to the habitual one, and the survival and behavior of the lingulids depend on the severity of the environmental changes and on the tolerance of the animals to the latter.

The Gryphus vitreus biocoenosis occurs in two types of profiles of the bottom topography on the continental slope. The density of G. vitreus can be divided into five zones directly related to the velocity of the bottom-current. The direction of the current over the Gryphus vitreus biocoenosis suggests three models according to the distributional limits of the density zones; the upper limit is always the continental shelf-edge (100–120 m) and the zonal limits are related to the slope gradient below 150 m. The bathymetric and spatial distribution of the density zones are analysed in relation to the current velocity and direction.