chapter 1 Introduction -- part Part I Living brachiopods and palaeobiology -- chapter 2 Apatite varieties in Recent and fossil linguloid brachiopod shells / chapter 3 Chemico-structural differentiation of the organocalcitic shells of rhynchonellate brachiopods / chapter 4 A TEM investigation of modulated microstructure in Recent and fossil articulate brachiopod shells from New Zealand / chapter 5 The acrosome reaction of the spermatozoa of the inarticulate brachiopod Lingula anatina / chapter 6 Brachiopod larval setae a key to the phylum's ancestral life cycle? / chapter 7 Variation in the loops of two Recent species of Liothyrella (Brachiopoda; Terebratuloidea) from New Zealand and / chapter 8 Shell morphology and geographical distribution of Neocrania (Brachiopoda, Recent) in the eastern North Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea / chapter 9 Developmental and settlement characteristics of the Antarctic brachiopod Liothyrella uva (Broderip 1833) / chapter 10 Embryonic shells of Devonian linguloid brachiopods / chapter 11 Global surface-water circulation and the main features of brachiopod biogeography / chapter 12 Fundamental differences in external spine growth in brachiopods / part Part II Advances in molecular studies -- chapter 13 Brachiopod molecular phylogeny advances -- chapter 14 Molecular phylogenetics and evolution of long-looped brachiopods / chapter 15 Phylogenetic relationships of brachiopods within the Metazoa based on mitochondrial amino acid sequence analyses / chapter 16 The phylogenetic position of brachiopods inferred from mitochondrial gene orders / chapter 17 Genetic differentiation of Terebratella sanguinea in the New Zealand fiords: a dispersal barrier in the marine environment? / part Part III Evolution and phylogeny -- chapter 18 Functional morphology of articulatory structures and implications for patterns of musculature in Cambrian rhynchonelliform brachiopods / chapter 19 Early Silurian stricklandiid brachiopod evolution in eastern North America / chapter 20 Post-Palaeozoic Rhynchonellida (Brachiopoda): classification and evolutionary background / chapter 21 Radiations and extinctions of atrypide brachiopods: Ordovician�Devonian / chapter 22 Trends in athyridide diversity dynamics / chapter 23 The systematic position of some Upper Permian terebratulide genera / chapter 24 Ancestry and heterochronic origin of brachiopods of the Superfamily Megathyridoidea (Order Terebratulida): a case of natural selection for equatorial dwarfism? / chapter 25 Thecideide phylogeny, heterochrony, and the gradual acquisition of characters / chapter 26 Incorporating stratigraphic data in the phylogenetic analysis of the Rhynchonelliformea / part Part IV Palaeoecology and ecology -- chapter 27 Brachiopods of the Isca submarine cave: observations during ten years / chapter 28 Brachiopod/crinoid associations in the late Cenozoic of the Antillean region / chapter 29 Pragian�Emsian brachiopod communities of the Faou Formation (Massif Armoricain, France) / chapter 30 Palaeoecological interpretation of the brachiopod faunas of the Bardahessiagh Formation (middle Caradoc), Pomeroy, / part Part V Palaeobiogeography and biostratigraphy -- chapter 31 Palaeolatitudinal distribution patterns of higher rhynchonelliform brachiopods in the early Ordovician / chapter 32 Distribution and diversity of Ordovician articulated brachiopods in the East Baltic / chapter 33 The orthide Platystrophia in the Ordovician and Early Silurian of the East Baltic / chapter 34 Silurian�Devonian biogeography / chapter 35 Extinction of some lingulate brachiopod families: new stratigraphical data from the Silurian and Devonian of Central Bohemia / chapter 36 Lower and Middle Permian brachiopods from Oman and Peri-Gondwanan palaeogeographical reconstructions / chapter 37 Permian Productida of Australasia: palaeobiogeographical and palaeoclimatological implications / chapter 38 A Permian Boreal brachiopod fauna from Okutadami, central Japan, and its tectonic implication / chapter 39 Brachiopod biostratigraphy of the Middle Triassic in Bulgaria and comparison with elsewhere in Europe / chapter 40 Mesozoic articulated brachiopods from the Western Cordillera of North America: their significance for palaeogeographic and tectonic reconstruction, palaeobiogeography and palaeoecology / chapter 41 Diversification of Mediterranean Early Jurassic brachiopods after the end-Triassic mass extinction new results from Hungary / chapter 42 Stratigraphic distribution of brachiopods a new method of storing and querying loosely-structured biodiversity information