Article: Unusual structures in Devonian Atrypidae from England

A distinctive group of Middle Devonian atrypoid brachiopods (Subfamily Palaferellinae Spriesters-bach 1942), with cemented muscle platforms and remarkable apical structures and crura, is described. This group, forming part of the newly established genus Mimatrypa Struve 1964, is common in the thick stromato-poroid-crinoid reefs of Givetian age in north-western Europe. Type material of J. de C. Sowerby, Phillips, Davidson, and Whidborne is re-examined and revised. The affinity of Mimatrypa desquamata (Sowerby), from the Devonian of south-western England, to the genus Desquamatia Alekseeva 1960 is refuted. The Eifelian Gruenewaldtia latilinguis (Schnur) is sectioned in detail. 'Karpinskia' rhenana Leidhold is removed from the Atrypida.