Eodictyonella

{{Short description|Extinct genus of brachiopods}}

{{Automatic taxobox

|fossil_range = Late Ordovician

|taxon = Eodictyonella

|authority =

|synonyms = {{species list|

Dictyonella |Hall 1868}}

}}

Eodictyonella is a genus of rhynchonelliform brachiopods belonging to the extinct class Chileata. It is characterised by a non-strophic shell covered by a net-like ornament (Greek dictyon, a net). Like in most chileates, the perforation in the umbonal region of the ventral valve is covered by a colleplax. Eodictyonella is known from the Ordovician to the Lower Devonian.

It had initially been described as Dictyonella Hall, 1868; however, this name proved to be a younger homonym of Dictyonella Schmidt, 1868, a sponge, so has been replaced by Eodictyonella Wright, 1994.{{cite journal |last1=Wright |first1=Anthony D |year=2015 |title=Eodictyonella, a new name for Dictyonella Hall, 1868, not Dictyonella Schmidt, 1868 |journal=Journal of Paleontology |volume=68 |issue=4 |pages=908 |doi=10.1017/S0022336000026378}}

Eodictyonella belongs to the family Eichwaldiidae Schuchert, 1893 and to the order Dictyonellida Cooper, 1956. The latter is based on Eodictyonella under its former name. However, Dictyonellidae is a family of sponges.

Isogramma{{Cite journal | doi=10.1016/j.jseaes.2005.04.002| title=Isogramma Meek and Worthen, 1870 (Dictyonellida, Brachiopoda) from the upper Palaeozoic of East Asia: Implications for biogeography and evolutionary trends| journal=Journal of Asian Earth Sciences| volume=26| issue=3–4| pages=405| year=2006| last1=Chen| first1=Z.Q| last2=Shi| first2=G.R| bibcode=2006JAESc..26..405C}} belongs to the same order, but its external aspect is rather different from Eodictyonella; Isogramma has a strophic shell.