Classification and review of the brachiopod superfamily Plectambonitacea

All nominal plectambonitacean genera are reviewed, and 79 are accepted whilst 26 are placed in synonymy or rejected. new criteria for familial and subfamilial classification are established, in order of importance i) the nature of the cardinal process (simple, trifid or trifid and undercut), ii) the presence of a bema, and iii) the presence of side septa. These result in 10 families of which 6 have between two and five subfamilies: the Family Grorudiidae and the Subfamilies Pelonomiinae, Spanodontinae, Palaeostrophomeninae and Craspedeliinae are new. Three new genera are erected, Rurambonites, Jonesea and Cooperea. Lectotypes are here selected of Strophomena nubigena and S. aranea, both of Salter, in Salter & Blanford 1865, and now ascribed to Toquimia