Zeilleriinae Allan, 1940

Baeza-Carratalá, José F. & Joral, Fernando García, 2014, Crural bases position as a structural criterion for supraspecific diagnosis of Early Jurassic zeilleriid brachiopods, Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 59 (3), pp. 651-661 : 658

Subfamily Zeilleriinae Allan, 1940

Emended diagnosis. — Large exceptionally, outline commonly subpentagonal or variant, valves usually biconvex, less commonly ventribiconvex or globose, anterior commissure typically rectimarginate, umbo with persistent beak ridges, deltidial plates exceptionally disjunct or forming symphytium, pedicle foramen oval typically mesothyrid, commonly telate; dental plates unenveloped, or enveloped exceptionally, relatively strong and long; cardinal process absent, or exceptionally represented by callus lobe, crural bases given off ventrally, septalium occasionally U- or W-shaped and deep, median septum triangular, rarely acutely triangular, or long, transverse band of loop occasionally broad, with posterior projections.

Stratigraphic and geographic range. — Induan (Lower Triassic)–Kimmeridgian (Upper Jurassic),?Berriasian–?Hauterivian (Lower Cretaceous). This subfamily virtually shows a cosmopolitan distribution.