Kutorginata
Kutorginates (Kutorginata) are an extinct class of early rhynchonelliform ("articulate") brachiopods. The class contains only a single order, Kutorginida (kutorginides). Kutorginides were among the earliest rhynchonelliforms, restricted to the lower-middle part of the Cambrian Period ("Atdabanian" [stage 3] to "Mayan" [late Miaolingian]).
| Kutorginata Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
| Kutorgina cingulata, a kutorginid from the lower Cambrian of Canada. Seen looking onto the ventral valve (left), dorsal valve (right), and the side (top) | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Brachiopoda |
| Class: | †Kutorginata Williams et al., 1996 |
| Order: | †Kutorginida Kuhn, 1949 |
| Subgroups | |
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See text. | |
Despite this short span of time, kutorginides were still a major order of Cambrian rhynchonelliforms during the lower Cambrian. Kutorginide diversity was highest up to the "Toyonian", though they began to decline in the mid-Cambrian even as other brachiopod orders (particularly orthides and acrotretides) diversified. A similar pattern of diversity loss is seen in obollelides, naukatides, and chileides, three other early rhynchonelliform orders contemporary with kutorginides.