Pedicle preservation in a Silurian rhynchonelliformean brachiopod from Herefordshire, England: soft-tissue or an artefact of interpretation?

The interpretation of pedicle soft tissue preservation in a unique brachiopod specimen of Wenlock (Silurian) age from Herefordshire. western England, is re-assessed. Bethia serraticulma, assigned originally to the Orthida, is more probably a member of the Strophomenida (Plectambonitoidea). The supposed pedicle structure is more plausibly a weakly mineralised pedicle sheath, which is a common morphological and functional development in the early ontogeny of a number of Palaeozoic brachiopod lineages.