Chuiella gen. nov. (Brachiopoda) and palaeoecology from the Lower Carboniferous of the Kunlun Mountains, NW China

A reexamination of Martiniella Grabau and Tien, 1931 reveals that the type species, M. nasuta Grabau and Tien, is a nomen nudum. Martiniella is thus restricted to its type species. A new genus, Chuiella gen. nov., is proposed to host the other Chinese species, previously ascribed to Martiniella Grabau and Tien, 1931. In addition, a detailed microfacies, taphonomic and palaeoecological analysis of a fossiliferous bed that contains abundant specimens of Chuiella gen. nov. from the Early Carboniferous Kelitag Formation of the Damusi area in the western Kunlun Mountains, Xinjiang Province, northwest China, reveals that species of Chuiella probably lived in a clean, warm, shallow-water marine, high energy environment. A review of all described species of Chuiella suggests this genus is characteristic of the Tournaisian and restricted to the palaeo-equatorial Eastern Tethyan region. Two species of Chuiella are described, including one new species: Chuiella aitegouensis gen. et sp. nov.