First occurrence of the genus Bicarinatina (Brachiopoda, Inarticulata) from the Middle Devonian in North America (Alaska)

Abstract

The lingulid brachiopod species Bicarinatina kongakutensis n. sp. is recorded here from the Middle Devonian (Eifelian) Ulungarat unit in Arctic Alaska. A restudy of the type species, Bicarinatina bicarinata (Kutorga) from the Middle Devonian (Eifelian) of Eastern Europe, suggests close affinities to the Ordovician genus Pseudolingula and gives good reason to assign Bicarinatina to the family Pseudolingulidae. There are no important points of difference in the morphologies of Bicarinatina and the Early Carboniferous lingulid genus Liralingua and, thus, both genera have been synonymized.