Brachiopods from the lower upper Maastrichtian (Upper Cretaceous) white chalk succession exposed at Chełm (eastern Poland) comprise Lingula cretacea, Isocrania costata, Cryptoporella antiqua, Cretirhynchia sp., Neoliothyrina sp., Carneithyris sp., Terebratulina chrysalis, T. faujasi, T. longicollis, Terebratulina spp., Gisilina sp., Bronnothyris bronni, Magas chitoniformis, Leptothyrellopsis polonicus and ?Aemula sp. This assemblage is relatively poor in terms of taxonomic diversity and specimen abundance and is dominated by stratigraphically long-ranging species. It is best comparable to that from the micromorphic brachiopod Rugia tenuicostata–Meonia semiglobularis Zone as distinguished in the white chalk successions of Denmark and northern Germany, although this zone is usually placed in the upper lower Maastrichtian. The Chełm succession represents a relatively deep-water and ‘benthos-poor’ variety of white chalk deposited in the Boreal Chalk Sea of Europe. The brachiopod assemblage studied is typical of such a habitat, having been controlled largely by the low availability of minute skeletal substrates suitable for brachiopod settlement.

A complete growth series of Terebratulina chrysalis (Von Schlotheim, 1813) collected from its type area near Maastricht (the Netherlands) is described and illustrated, with fully adult and gerontic specimens included so as to increase current knowledge of this taxon. Most specimens collected from other European outcrops are juveniles which are similar to juveniles from the type area near Maastricht. However, adults collected from the latter area and those from lower Maastrichtian white chalk deposits in northern Europe are quite different. These differences can be explained by palaeoenvironmental conditions and taphonomic processes.

Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) is used to determine the detailed crystallographic orientation of calcite crystals of craniid brachiopods in the context of shell ultrastructure. Sections of shells of two Recent species, Novocrania anomala and Novocrania huttoni, are analysed to provide 3D crystallographic patterns at high spatial resolution. The c-axis of semi-nacre calcite crystals is oriented parallel to the laminae that define the ultrastructure of the secondary layer. This orientation differs from that of rhynchonelliform calcitic brachiopods where the c-axis is perpendicular to the length of morphological fibres and to the shell exterior.

The loop configuration, structure and growth are studied in a series of megathiridoid dorsal valves ranging in length from 0·7 to 6 mm. The structure of the posterior and anterior sectors of the descending lamellae and their relationships with the socket ridges, dorsal septa and dorsal valve floor, are studied, illustrated and described. Detailed studies show that internal structures display great variability. In the megathiridoids the lamellae of more typical terebratulide loops are replaced by partially developed loops in early developmental stages, resulting in a mix of free sections of loop together with sections where the lophophore rests directly on the epithelium of the valve floor. Comments on the ecology of the megathiridoid species are included and relate their unusually wide gapes, which position their lophophores fully accessible to the open sea, with their strong lophophore attachments and loss of typical free loops. The new genus Joania (type species Terebratula cordata Risso, 1826) is erected for those Argyrotheca which, although having a typical megathiridoid brachidium, differ in their adult crural development, their narrow hinge line, their prominent cardinal process, their characteristic dorsal median septum and their tuberculate radial ridges terminating anteriorly in tubercles.

Siphonotretid brachiopod distribution in the Lower Ordovician of the Prague Basin is described and discussed; the new species Alichovia cometa is established. The preservation and distribution of the group indicate a preference for shallow-water offshore, high-energy environments: siphonotretids are abundant shelly fossils in the shallower-water, mostly marginal sites of the basin but are absent in the deeper parts. Their environmental limits were complementary to those of the graptolites; siphonotretids co-occur with epiplanktonic graptolites at only a few localities. Deeper offshore deposits with biramose dichograptids and diverse, generally delicate benthic dendroids lack siphonotretids. Indeed, siphonotretids were intolerant to dysoxia and preferred a well-aerated siliciclastic, firm sea floor in the shallower parts of the basin. They were tolerant to suspended coarser detritus, using their spines which functioned as an effective sieve. The density and ramification of spines indicate three sifting strategies. Suggested life styles above the seabed on elevated surfaces (algae, sponges, dendroids) are not supported by direct evidence. They more likely lived within more supple and soft matrices (sponges, tufts of algae) stabilised by their spines, with the spinose basket maintaining free space for inhalant and exhalant currents.

A new rhynchonellide brachiopod has been collected from the Kahuitara Tuff (Campanian–Maastrichtian) of Pitt Island, Chatham Islands, New Zealand. Brachiopods are extremely rare in Cretaceous rocks from New Zealand, and this new genus and species is unlike any other rhynchonellide known from Australasia or elsewhere. Chathamirhynchia kahuitara is distinguished by its small size, strong ribbing, and well-developed sulciplicate folding, and internally by a large, robust cardinal process and raduliform crura. The shell structure of C. kahuitara is shown to be of typical fine fibrous ‘rhynchonellidine’ type. This brachiopod was probably strongly attached to volcanic rock or shells in a shallow-water, high-energy environment. Implications for the biogeography of brachiopods during the Late Cretaceous are briefly discussed.

Locally abundant and diverse brachiopod faunas, associated with unstable outer shelf and slope environments, occur throughout the Barr and Ardmillan groups (middle Llanvirn–upper Ashgill) in the Girvan district of SW Scotland. A dataset of 350 brachiopod species from 30 horizons through the Middle–Upper Ordovician succession forms the basis for a description of brachiopod diversity through the succession and comparison with global patterns and trends through this time interval. The Middle Ordovician Barr Group incorporates shallow water carbonate and clastic facies, characterised by Valcourea confinis, with deeper-water facies. The trilobite-dominated Albany Group preserves outer shelf biofacies. Deep-water facies occur in the Balclatchie Formation of the lower Ardmillan Group, including an early occurrence of a Foliomena-type species. High diversity brachiopod faunas occur in clastic facies, though many of the biofacies have a transported component to them. Representatives of the deep-water Foliomena fauna occur intermittently throughout the Upper Ardmillan Group, appearing in both the Whitehouse and Drummuck subgroups. This distinctive assemblage of small, thin-shelled brachiopods, including Dedzetina, Christiania, Cyclospira and Foliomena itself, is interbedded with a variety of other less cosmopolitan deep-water assemblages, including the Onniella–Skenidioides and Lingulella–Trimurellina associations. Shallower-water environments in the middle Ashgill Lower Drummuck Subgroup hosted the Fardenia–Eopholidostrophia association in sands, and the Christiania–Leptaena association in muds and silts. The remarkable Lady Burn Starfish Beds in the upper part of the group contain a variety of brachiopod-dominated assemblages, including the Eochonetes and Plaesiomys–Schizophorella associations, transported from various shelf locations, within a very diverse mid Ashgill biota. The upper Ashgill High Mains Formation contains abundant elements of the terminal Ordovician Hirnantia fauna, including Eostropheodonta, Hindella and Hirnantia itself, but also some taxa more typical of the Laurentian Edgewood Province. As a whole, the changing brachiopod biodiversity biofacies reflect environmental fluctuations, on this part of the Laurentian margin, driven by mainly eustatic and tectonic events against a background of global biotic radiation.

A review is presented of the genera and species, both living and fossil, comprising the Superfamily Kraussinoidea and of their geographic and stratigraphic distributions. Two new fossil species are described, Kraussina chilensis and Megerlina miracula, from the Miocene of Chile and New Zealand respectively. The ontogenetic development of the brachidium in each of the four kraussinid genera is described and on the basis of recognised differences it is proposed that a new taxonomic subdivision is made that places Megerlia in a new subfamily Megerliinae, distinct from the other three genera in the existing subfamily Kraussininae Dall. The loop ontogeny of kraussinoids is compared with that of other terebratellidines and a phylogenetic linkage between kraussinoids and laqueoids is suggested.

Ultrastructural examination of the brachiopod Thecidellina from three different locations in the Caribbean and the Atlantic revealed that at least three cryptic species are present. One is the type species of the genus, Thecidellina barretti, which may only occur in Jamaica. The other two, previously lumped into T. barretti, are new to science, viz T. bahamiensis Lüter & Logan sp. nov. from the Bahamas and T. williamsi Lüter & Logan sp. nov. from Cape Verde. All three species clearly differ not only in their provenance, but also in specific shell characters, such as spiculation of the ventral valve, presence of a ventral median ridge, shape of two holes in the intrabrachial ridge of the dorsal valve and the structure of the interbrachial lobes. The identification of three instead of a single species and their supposed allopatric speciation is discussed with regard to the thecideide life cycle and independent models of larval dispersal in the Caribbean, based on oceanographic data.

Comparisons of the Caradoc assemblages with North American biofacies indicate that the Bardahessiagh Formation was deposited during a transgressive regime, which peaked with the presence of a typical Sericoidea association (member (II)). These diverse and exceptionally preserved faunas lived below the storm-wave base. The assemblages also contained a shallower water brachiopod component typical of transition zone environments or above, which may have been transported during periods of instability. A deep-water regime (BAs 4 to 4–5) through the Rawtheyan occurs with the deposition of the Killey Bridge Formation, which yielded a diverse brachiopod fauna including Bimuria, Chonetoidea and Christiania. The Rawtheyan assemblage also contains a shallower water component. Representatives of the deep-water Proboscisambon assemblage occur in middle parts of the Tirnaskea Formation. This distinctive low-diversity assemblage yields small, thin-shelled brachiopods including Dedzetina, Sericoidea, Protozyga and Proboscisambon. The upper parts of the Tirnaskea Formation yielded the low diversity, shallow water (BA 3) Hirnantia fauna, which is characterised by the presence of Eostropheodonta, which is a key form of the fauna, Dysprosorthis and the absence of Hirnantia. As a whole the changing brachiopod biofacies monitor environmental fluctuations, on part of the Laurentian margin, driven mainly by eustatic and tectonic events.

The Volkhov Regional Stage (Middle Ordovician) in the East Baltic preserves diverse fossil assemblages dominated by epibenthic suspension feeders. Brachiopods, ostracodes, conodonts, echinoderms and bryozoans are the main components of palaeocommunities obtained from clay horizons in the Putilovo section (St Petersburg region, Russia), whereas trilobites, machaeridians, hyolithids, graptolites, benthic foraminifers and gastropods are rare or occur sporadically. Brachiopod bioclasts volumetrically dominate the debris of the studied sediments. Quantitative faunal data are used to assess species diversity patterns, as expressed by the species richness (total number of species in the standardized sample size) and by the evenness or equitability of the community. The numerical abundance of particular taxa in each standardized sample was used to evaluate the density of the fauna. The communities in the Volkhov Stage in Putilovo Quarry reveal a remarkable stability throughout the studied interval and are characterized by high density (1000–6000 specimens per 100 g), relatively moderate species richness (10–15 species) and a moderately variable equitability (0.3–0.7) for the dominant fossil groups (conodonts, ostracodes and brachiopods). Ostracodes significantly increase in numbers within the upper part of the section. This confirms a shallowing of the basin during the late Volkhov interval. Small-scale variability of the diversity estimates does not correlate with the small-scale sea-level changes reconstructed for this part of the basin. It may be connected with error in diversity measurement, or the result of undetected environmental parameters. Variability estimates for different faunal groups are poorly correlated because particular groups have different environmental tolerances.

A new Late Cambrian trilobite–brachiopod fauna from the Kurchavinskaya Formation, Severnaya Zemlya, northern Siberia, allows correlation of the Ketyi Horizon of the NW Siberian succession with the praecursor Zone of the Baltic olenid zonation. The presence on Severnaya Zemlya of the typically Siberian trilobite Kujandaspis ketiensis indicates that even if Severnaya Zemlya lay on a separate plate, whether Kara or Arctida as postulated by other authors, then it was still probably not far from Siberia. However, the associated brachiopods are partly endemic to Severnaya Zemlya, thus giving some support to the independent palaeomagnetic evidence for their origin on a plate separate from Siberia.

A diverse, but sparsely distributed silicified fauna of over 30 taxa has been recovered from 7·5 tonnes of acid-etched Lower Ordovician Dounans Limestone from the Highland Border Complex, near Aberfoyle. The 13 trilobite taxa obtained include 3 new formally named species: Distazeris adoceta, Punka aetholiciocorus and Ischyrotoma stubblefieldi. Other elements, representing Carolinites, Illaenus, Goniotelina, Sycophantia, Kawina, Heliomeroides, Strotactinus, Ectenonotus, Ceratocephala and an indeterminate bathyurelline are described under open nomenclature although at least 4 are also probably new and 2 more may be conspecific with previously described species. The brachiopods include representatives of Archaeorthis, Nothorthis, Orthidium, ?Camerella, Idiostrophia, Orthambonites and 4 other indeterminate stocks. Gastropods tentatively assigned to Murchisonia, Subulites, Straparollina, Maclurites and Cyrtodiscus are described, as are bryozoans, an orthocone, crinoids, and Incertae sedis.

This profoundly North American fauna is Late Canadian ( = mid Arenig) in age and equates with the Cassinian Stage: it is key evidence in showing that the Highland Border rocks are not part of the Dalradian Supergroup whose earliest deformations and metamorphism predate the Ordovician. The field relationships of the limestone, together with evidence from derived clasts in Middle Ordovician and Devonian sequences near Girvan in SW Scotland and at Stonehaven in eastern Scotland suggest that it forms part of a widespread sub-Old Red Sandstone carbonate sequence of Early Ordovician age beneath the northern Midland Valley.