Paterinata Temporal range:
| |
---|---|
Micromitra undosa | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Brachiopoda |
Class: | †Paterinata Williams et al., 1996 |
Order: | †Paterinida Rowell, 1965 |
Superfamily: | †Paterinoidea Schuchert, 1893 |
Paterinata is an extinct class of linguliform brachiopods which lived from the lower Cambrian ("Tommotian") to the Upper Ordovician (Hirnantian).[1] It contains the single order Paterinida and the subfamily Paterinoidea.[2] Despite being some of the earliest brachiopods to appear in the fossil record, paterinides stayed as a relatively subdued and low-diversity group even as other brachiopods diversified later in the Cambrian and Ordovician.[1] Paterinides are notable for their high degree of convergent evolution with rhynchonelliform (articulate) brachiopods, which have a similar set of muscles and hinge-adjacent structures.[2]