A new tribe of dictyoclostid brachiopods from the Lower Permian of the Tarim Basin, north-west China

Several finely capillated brachiopod genera are re-examined based on new material obtained from the Lower Permian of the Tarim Basin, north-western China and previously published information. A new genus, Tarimoplecta, is proposed. Comparison with other related genera reveals that Liraplecta Jin and Sun and Tarimoplecta gen. nov. represent a new tribe, Liraplectini, of the Dictyoclostidinae Stehli. The stratigraphical and geographical distributions of both Liraplecta and Tarimoplecta indicate that they are restricted to the Sakmarian to Kungurian (Lower Permian) of the Tethyan Realm. Four species are described herein: Liraplecta paojianggouensis sp, nov., L. richthofeni (Chao), L. apsera (Wang), and Tarimoplecta tarimensis gen. et sp. nov.