Pliocene brachiopods from north-western Africa Author Bitner, Maria Aleksandra Institute of Paleobiology, Polish Academy of Sciences, ul. Twarda 51 / 55, 00 - 818 Warszawa (Poland) bitner @ twarda. pan. pl bitner@twarda.pan.pl Author Moissette, Pierre Université de Lyon I, UFR des Sciences de la Terre and UMR 5125 du CNRS, 27 bd du 11 novembre, F- 69622 Villeurbanne cedex (France) pierre. moissette @ univ-lyon 1. fr .. text Geodiversitas 2003 25 3 463 479 journal article 10.5281/zenodo.5375081 1638-9395 5375081 Terebratula terebratula ( Linnaeus, 1758 ) ( Fig. 3 ; Table 3 ) Terebratula calabra Seguenza, 1871: 64 , pl. 5, figs 5-8. — Gaetani & Saccà 1985a: 7-9 , text-figs 5-7, pl. 1, figs 7-12; pl. 3, figs 6-10. — Taddei Ruggiero 1994: 206 , pl. 1, figs 3-5. Terebratula terebratula – Bitner & Martinell 2001: 181 , fig. 3M-T. — Lee et al . 2001: 89-91 , figs 6-9. MATERIAL EXAMINED. — 33 complete specimens, 17 ventral valves, and 9 dorsal valves from Algeria : LP- MNHN B.38649-B.38657, B.38671, B.38672, B.38674-B.38680, B.38682, B.38684, B.38685; 10 complete specimens, two ventral valves, and five dorsal valves from Morocco : LP-MNHN B.38314, B.38315 (for detailed localities see also Table 1 ). OCCURRENCE. — This species is known from the late Miocene and Pliocene of the Mediterranean region. REMARKS TABLE 3. — Measurements (in mm) of Terebratula terebratula ( Linnaeus, 1758 ) . Abbreviations: L , length; T , thickness; W , width. This large species (max. length 53.1 mm) is the commonest brachiopod in the studied material. It is also very common in the Pliocene deposits throughout the Mediterranean region ( Pajaud 1976 , 1977 ; Gaetani & Saccà 1985a ; Encinas 1992; Encinas & Martinell 1992 ; Taddei Ruggiero 1994 , 1996 ; Bitner & Martinell 2001 ; Lee et al . 2001 ). The investigated specimens, although poorly preserved, often broken and/or crushed, correspond well to those described by the previous authors. The shell is variable in outline, from elongate oval to subcircular (see Fig. 3E, G ). The shell surface is smooth with numerous growth lines visible. The valves are nearly equal in depth. The anterior commissure varies from slightly uniplicate to sulciplicate. This species has a large, circular, permesothyrid foramen and partly visible symphytium. The brachidium has not been preserved in any specimens but cardinalia with a prominent cardinal process and narrow outer hinge plates ( Fig. 3I ) are typical of the genus. The nomenclatural problem of the large Terebratula species and the validity of the name T . terebratula were already discussed ( Gaetani & Saccà 1985a ; Lee & Brunton 1998 ; Bitner & Martinell 2001 ). In their recent paper Lee et al . (2001) summarised the long and complex history of T . terebratula from 1616, and presented the relationships of species currently included in Terebratula .

Specimen number	L	W	T
B.38675	50.2	37.4	26.5
B.38650 (figured)	49.2	36.5	32.5
B.38650 (figured)	42.8	36.0	25.5
B.38652	44.2	37.6	28.8
B.38654 (figured)	43.0	41.1	23.8

TABLE 4. — Measurements (in mm) of Terebratula sp. Abbreviations: L , length; T , thickness; W , width.

Specimen number	L	W	T
B.38316 (figured)	18.8	16.6	11.3
B.38316	17.7	16.6	9.4
B.38316 (figured)	15.1	13.6	9.1
B.38316 (figured)	13.9	13.0	7.6

This species was already noted, under different names ( T . ampulla Brocchi, 1814 , T . biplicata Brocchi, 1814 , T . sinuosa Brocchi, 1814 ), from Algeria and Morocco by other authors (e.g., Welsch 1888 ; Fischer & Oehlert 1891 ; Ficheur 1896c , d; Dalloni 1915 ; Lecointre 1926 ; Yassini 1973 , 1979 ; Ben Moussa 1994 ).