AUSTRALASIAN TERTIARY BRACHIOPODA. 
THE SUBFAMILY ANAKINETICINAE NOV. 
J. R. Richardson 
Museum of Victoria, 285-321 Russell Street, Melbourne, Victoria 3000 
Richardson, J. R. 1991:06:30. Australasian Tertiary Brachiopoda. The subfamily Anaki- 
neticinae. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria 103 (1): 29-45. ISSN 0035- 
9211. 
Four new endemic brachiopod genera (Adnatida, Aliquantula, Elderra, Pilkena) and 
seven new species (Anakinetica breva, A. recta, A. tumida, Magadinella hamiltonensis, Pil¬ 
kena compressa, Adnatida gnangarensis and Elderra toorlooensis) are described from Ter¬ 
tiary bryozoan sands in Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia. The taxa are 
included in the new subfamily Anakineticinae which is erected for those Australian and New 
Zealand genera formerly included in the Magadinae. 
WITH the exception of the Terebratellidae (sub¬ 
families Terebratellinae, Anakineticinae now, 
Bouchardiinae and Magadinae), Cainozoic ar¬ 
ticulate brachiopod families are cosmopolitan in 
distribution. Cainozoic members of the Tere¬ 
bratellidae are unknown in the northern and 
western hemispheres but are the principal com¬ 
ponents of the Recent brachiopod faunas in Aus¬ 
tralia, New Zealand, South America and Ant¬ 
arctica. In these areas, brachiopods are not rare 
members of the benthos, as they appear to be in 
other parts of the world. 
The subfamily Anakineticinae nov. is an ex¬ 
clusively southern subfamily which apparently 
evolved in the biogenic sands of New Zealand 
and Australia during the Oligocene and Mio¬ 
cene. In New Zealand, a drastic reduction in the 
extent of shallow marine shelf environments by 
Late Miocene time (MacKinnon 1987) resulted 
in the disappearance of brachiopods specialised 
for these regimes, and both anakineticinid gen¬ 
era from that area (Magadina, Rhizothyris) are 
now extinct. In contrast, the stability of the Aus¬ 
tralian region has provided a virtually continu¬ 
ous record (Eocene to Recent) of anakineticinids 
specialised for bryozoan sands. Present day 
communities living in the bryozoan sands of the 
Australian shelf replicate those found in the Ter¬ 
tiary bryozoan sands, and the two communities 
are sometimes found in juxtaposition, as in 
southern Victoria, for example, where cliffs of 
the Aire coast border shelf waters. 
Living anakineticinid species have been de¬ 
scribed in a series of papers (see Richardson 
1987) which show that they are widely distri¬ 
buted in relation to latitude, longitude and 
depth, and that they possess a variety of adap¬ 
tations for life in shifting bryozoan sands. These 
species have given a new insight into the struc¬ 
ture and function of the pedicle, showing that it 
is not analagous to a stalk or stem but is a vari¬ 
able appendage used either to tether or to move 
individuals in soft sediments. Differences in the 
pedicle system and therefore in substrate re¬ 
lationships are reflected in overall shape and 
size, as well as in the beak and cardinalia. 
Erection of a new subfamily for the Australian 
and New Zealand genera previously included in 
the Magadinae leaves the latter subfamily with 
four European Cretaceous genera, three of 
which are little known. The Australasian genera 
have been transferred to the Anakineticinae 
because they differ from Magas , the type genus 
of the Magadinae, in distribution of thickening, 
beak type, and in the form of the posterior sur¬ 
face of the cardinal process. The distribution of 
thickening in Magas indicates that the dorsal 
valve would have been uppermost in life and the 
ventral valve in contact with the underlying sub¬ 
strate (chalk), in contrast with the opposite 
orientation of austral genera. The posterior sur¬ 
face of the cardinal process of Magas is small 
and cup-shaped whereas in the genera attributed 
to the Anakineticinae it is prominent and dis¬ 
tinctive in shape, with lateral vertical or near¬ 
vertical wings flanking a median horizontal sur¬ 
face (trefoil). Steinich (1968) and Johansen 
(1987) have remarked on the similarities 
between Magas chiloniformis and Dalliglas 
nobilis( Dallinidae) which they can separate only 
on the composition of the loop and density of 
punctae. Both Magas and Dalliglas exhibit adult 
loops at an early stage of the developmental 
sequence which is characteristic of terebratella- 
cean families (Richardson 1975). Family pos¬ 
ition can be determined only from the patterns 
of resorption evident in intermediate stages, not 
from early or late stages of development. Adult 
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