A palaeo-opportunistic brachiopod from the Early Permian of Argentina

Neochonetes sp. (Brachiopoda, Chonetoidea) is recorded from the middle to u pper part of the early Permian Rio del Penon Formation, Rio Blanco Basin. L a Rioja, Argentina. It can be recognised as an r-strategist based on distri bution, facies, morphological and ontogenic data which agree with the crite ria proposed by Levinton and Alexander for recognising palaeo-opportunistic brachiopods. The new record of an opportunistic chonetid suggests that the group may have evolved this adaptative strategy during the late Palaeozoic .