Paraspirifer
Paraspirifer is a genus of large brachiopods that lived during the late Lower and Middle Devonian in what now are Germany, Spain, Morocco and the United States.
Taxonomy
Paraspirifer developed from Brachyspirifer during the early upper Emsian.
Distribution
Paraspirifer originated in the lower upper Emsian and became extinct in Europe and Northern Africa at the end of the lower Eifelian. It survived into the Givetian in North America though.P. cultrijugatus is known from the Middle Devonian.P. acuminatus occurs in the Middle Devonian of the United States P. bownockeri is known from the Middle Devonian of the United States.
Ecology
Image:Paraspirifer bownockeri, pyritized [brachiopods, Middle Devonian, Silica Shale, Lucas County, Ohio, USA - Houston Museum of Natural Science - DSC01732.JPG|thumb|left|Natural cluster of Paraspirifer bownockeri from the Lower Silica Formation]From the type of deposits that contain Paraspirifer bownockeri it can be deduced that this species inhabited soft clay mudflats. Shells of this species hosted a wide range of epibionts, such as bryozoans, corals, echinoderms, annelid worms and other brachiopods. These epibionts are more numerous on the brachial valve than on the pedunculate valve, because this big brachiopod lay on its pedunculate valve after the degeneration of the stalk.