FIRST OCCURRENCE OF THE GENUS BICARINATINA (BRACHIOPODA, INARTICULATA) FROM THE MIDDLE DEVONIAN IN NORTH-AMERICA (ALASKA)

The lingulid brachiopod species Bicarinatina kongakutensis n. sp. is r ecorded here from the Middle Devonian (Eifelian) Ulungarat unit in Arc tic Alaska. A restudy of the type species, Bicarinatina bicarinata (Ku torga) from the Middle Devonian (Eifelian) of Eastern Europe, suggests close affinities to the Ordovician genus Pseudolingula and gives good reason to assign Bicarinatina to the family Pseudolingulidae. There a re no important points of difference in the morphologies of Bicarinati na and the Early Carboniferous lingulid genus Liralingua and, thus, bo th genera have been synonymized.