A new post-LOME (Late Ordovician Mass Extinction) recovery brachiopod fauna from South China
Resource type
Journal article
Date published
May 31, 2024
Abstract
Following the Late Ordovician Mass Extinction event, brachiopod faunas were in a phase of recovery during the late Rhuddanian (early Silurian), documented by a drastic turnover of Ordovician-type to Silurian-type faunas. In this study, we present a recovery brachiopod fauna, from the Niuchang Formation (late Rhuddanian-based graptolite zonation) at the Wanzi section of Zhenxiong in northeastern Yunnan Province, South China. The fossils include 26 species assigned to 25 genera, with a dominance of strophomenides and orthides, but also a diverse suite of atrypides and pentamerides, which exhibit compositional differences compared to the earlier Edgewood–Cathay fauna. The emergence of a more typical Silurian brachiopod fauna suggests a delayed community turnover after the Late Ordovician Mass Extinction event. The shallowing marine environment trend evinced in the brachiopod assemblages in the section indicates a balance between the global transgression and the regional Qianzhong Uplift, which provided a stable environment for the brachiopod recovery. The presence of diverse pentamerides, including the earliest species of the large-shelled genus , suggests early diversification of this clade in South China.
Journal title
Journal of Paleontology
Article number
14
Publisher
Cambridge University Press (CUP)
ISSN
0022-3360
eISSN
1937-2337
Official URL
Rights statement
In Copyright