Triassic brachiopods from the Betic Range were unknown hitherto. Herein we describe the first brachiopod  occurrences in the early Ladinian of this domain referable to a new genus and species Misunithyris goyi derived from three localities of the south-Iberian Triassic outcrops. The analysis of internal and external characters of this brachiopod allowed to characterize systematically and biogeographically this fauna in a chronostratigraphic interval when the paucity of brachiopod records is attributable to the entire peri-Iberian epicontinental platform system established in the westernmost Tethyan margin. The new record is endemic to the Betic Range and represents a new faunal constituent of the multicostate zeillerids stock. This fauna inhabited the epicontinental seas of the Sephardic bioprovince since a closer affinity with the low-latitude Tethyan assemblages is revealed. The possible linkage of the Triassic stock with the Early–Middle Jurassic multicostate zeillerid representatives suggests feasible phylogenetic relationships between both groups.

Key words: Brachiopoda, Zeillerioidea, palaeobiogeography, Triassic, Ladinian, Spain.

José F. Baeza-Carratalá [jf.baeza@ua.es] and Fernando Pérez-Valera [fperez@ua.es], Departamento de Ciencias de la Tierra y Medio Ambiente, Universidad Alicante, Apdo. 99, San Vicente del Raspeig, 03080 Alicante, Spain. Juan A. Pérez-Valera [jalbertoperez@geo.ucm.es], Departamento de Paleontología, Facultad de Ciencias Geológicas, Universidad Complutense, C/ José Antonio Novais 2, 28040 Madrid, Spain.