A review of Silurian discinoid brachiopods from historical British localities

Abstract

The present article revises descriptions of Silurian discinoid brachiopods by J. de C. Sowerby and T. Davidson in the mid-nineteenth century, and of old collections from classic palaeontological sites in Britain, currently housed in the Natural History Museum, London. Orbicula forbesii Davidson, 1848, O. rugata J. de C. Sowerby in Murchison, 1839, O. striata J. de C. Sowerby in Murchison, 1839, Discina verneuilii Davidson, 1848 are re-described. The genus Rugadiscina and the species Acrosaccus woolhopensis, Acrosaccus cocksi and Schizotreta walkeri are erected. Discina? cf. rarissima Barrande, 1879 and the genus Lochkothele are documented from the Silurian of Britain for the first time. Although the generic composition of the British Wenlock discinoid fauna is similar to that of the Barrandian area in Bohemia, differences at the species level confirm the separation of these terrains during the Silurian.