Article: Early Cambrian brachiopods from North Greenland

A silicified late Early Cambrian (early Toyonian) brachiopod assemblage is described from the Paralleldal Formation of Peary Land, central North Greenland. The fauna comprises Acareorthis profunda sp. nov., Pelmanella borealis gen. et sp. nov., Kutorgina cingulata, and Agyrekia aff. obtusa. The assemblage is comparable to faunas described from the Lower Cambrian (Botomian) of south Tien-Shan, Kirgizia, and the lower Middle Cambrian (Ordian) of New South Wales, Australia. Primitive articulatory structures are described for the first time in Kutorgina cingulata, suggesting a close affinity to the Nisusiidae and supporting the assignment of the latter family to the Kutorginida. Acareorthis is reported for the first time outside Australia; it is here referred to the Chileida in view of its strophic shell lacking all traces of articulatory structures. The new obolellid family Pelmanellidae is erected, comprising Pelmanella and the Australian genus Bynguanoia.