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Merista
Classification
Phylum:
Brachiopoda
Class:
Rhynchonellata
Order:
Athyridida
Superfamily:
Meristelloidea
Family:
Meristidae
Formal Genus Name and Reference:
Merista SUESS, 1851, p. 150
Type Species:
Terebratula herculea Barrande, 1847, p. 26, SD Suess in DAVIDSON, 1856, p. 85
Images
(Click to enlarge in a new window)
Fig. 1068, $1 a-k$. *M. herculea (Barrande), Lower Devonian, Bohemia, Czech Republic, $a-e$, dorsal, ventral, lateral, anterior, and posterior views, USNM 497417, x1.5$ (new), $f-i$, transverse serial sections 1.4, 2.2, $2.9, 3.6 \\mathrm{~mm}$ from ventral umbo, distance from ventral umbo to first section approximate, GIB Nr70 (adapted from Siehl, 1962), $j-k$, ventral and lateral views of brachidium (Glass, 1882).
Synonyms
Geographic Distribution
southern Siberia, Altay, Canada, Llandovery, Canada, Wenlock, Venezuela, Mexico, south-central USA (Oklahoma, Tennessee), Ludlow, northeastern USA (Maine), Ludlow or Přídolí, Bohemia, Poland, Kazahkstan, Altay, Inner Mongolia, Lower Devonian, Germany, ?Burma, Middle Devonian
Age Range
Beginning Stage in Treatise Usage:
Silurian (Llandovery)
Beginning International Stage:
Rhuddanian
Fraction Up In Beginning Stage:
0
Beginning Date:
443.07
Ending Stage in Treatise Usage:
Middle Devonian
Ending International Stage:
Givetian
Fraction Up In Ending Stage:
100
Ending Date:
378.9
Description
Biconvex, elongate or transverse shells of rounded subpentagonal outline, with dorsal fold and ventral sulcus commonly developed anteriorly, dental plates short or may be produced anteriorly as thickened ridges that unite with outer part of medially placed shoe-lifter process along its lateral edges, shoe-lifter process with form of posteriorly plunging roof-shaped plate, mystrochial plates present, small septalium supported by high and thin median septum, accessory jugal lamellae reunite with lateral branches of jugum. [No nominal species were assigned to Merista when the genus was erected by SUESS (1851). No species was associated with Merista until 1854 when SUESS (1854, p. 62–63) assigned 3 species to the genus: T. herculea, T. passer, and T. tumida; no type species was designated. The first indication of a type species is that of SUESS (in DAVIDSON, 1856, p. 85), who designated T. herculea as type species of Merista.]
References
Museum or Author Information
Classification
Phylum:
Brachiopoda
Class:
Rhynchonellata
Order:
Athyridida
Superfamily:
Meristelloidea
Family:
Meristidae
Formal Genus Name and Reference:
Merista SUESS, 1851, p. 150
Type Species:
Terebratula herculea Barrande, 1847, p. 26, SD Suess in DAVIDSON, 1856, p. 85
Images
(Click to enlarge in a new window)
Fig. 1068, $1 a-k$. *M. herculea (Barrande), Lower Devonian, Bohemia, Czech Republic, $a-e$, dorsal, ventral, lateral, anterior, and posterior views, USNM 497417, x1.5$ (new), $f-i$, transverse serial sections 1.4, 2.2, $2.9, 3.6 \\mathrm{~mm}$ from ventral umbo, distance from ventral umbo to first section approximate, GIB Nr70 (adapted from Siehl, 1962), $j-k$, ventral and lateral views of brachidium (Glass, 1882).
Synonyms
Geographic Distribution
southern Siberia, Altay, Canada, Llandovery, Canada, Wenlock, Venezuela, Mexico, south-central USA (Oklahoma, Tennessee), Ludlow, northeastern USA (Maine), Ludlow or Přídolí, Bohemia, Poland, Kazahkstan, Altay, Inner Mongolia, Lower Devonian, Germany, ?Burma, Middle Devonian
Age Range
Beginning Stage in Treatise Usage:
Silurian (Llandovery)
Beginning International Stage:
Rhuddanian
Fraction Up In Beginning Stage:
0
Beginning Date:
443.07
Ending Stage in Treatise Usage:
Middle Devonian
Ending International Stage:
Givetian
Fraction Up In Ending Stage:
100
Ending Date:
378.9
Description
Biconvex, elongate or transverse shells of rounded subpentagonal outline, with dorsal fold and ventral sulcus commonly developed anteriorly, dental plates short or may be produced anteriorly as thickened ridges that unite with outer part of medially placed shoe-lifter process along its lateral edges, shoe-lifter process with form of posteriorly plunging roof-shaped plate, mystrochial plates present, small septalium supported by high and thin median septum, accessory jugal lamellae reunite with lateral branches of jugum. [No nominal species were assigned to Merista when the genus was erected by SUESS (1851). No species was associated with Merista until 1854 when SUESS (1854, p. 62–63) assigned 3 species to the genus: T. herculea, T. passer, and T. tumida; no type species was designated. The first indication of a type species is that of SUESS (in DAVIDSON, 1856, p. 85), who designated T. herculea as type species of Merista.]