ABSTRACT The first known trochurine lichid from the Lower Devonian of southern France is assigned to the genus Branikarges Basse & Müller, 2023, replacing the invalid genus Lobopyge Přibyl & Erben. Branikarges euanclarksoni sp. nov. occurs in cherty limestones of the upper Emsian middle Izarne Formation in the Cabrières klippes, in the southeast of the Montagne Noire. Among the few contemporary representatives of typical Branikarges , the new species is closest to north Gondwana related taxa. Silicified early growth stages assigned to B. euanclarksoni have been recovered from the middle Bissounel Formation, a temporal equivalent of the middle Izarne Formation in the Montagne Noire nappe succession. The material includes, besides a questionable metaprotaspis, some meraspid cranidial fragments, librigenae and hypostomes, as well as an almost complete succession of transitory pygidia. This material allows for the first establishment of the meraspid stage development of Branikarges through applying the distribution model of spine markers on alternate pleurae developed by B. D. E. Chatterton in 1971.
Raimund FEIST (Wed,) studied this question.