A brachiopod shell show during the middle Cenomanian in the stratotype area (France) – exceptional residual colour pattern.

The Mid. Cenomanian terebratulid brachiopod Sellithyris cenomanensis Gaspard, 1982 displays preserved residual colour patterns as pale radial bandings. A parallel is made with the common Triassic Coenothyris vulgaris (Schlotheim, 1820) and some extant species. The colour pattern is unequal comparing the dorsal and ventral valves of one specimen, and in the representatives of a sampled population. This ornamentation, not easily detected, is highlighted using ultraviolet (UV) light. Considerations concerning the pigments involved, their function and at least their alteration over time are tentatively analysed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]