Age of the Silurian Lower Red Beds in South China:Stratigraphical Evidence from the Sanbaiti Section

The age of the Silurian Lower Red Beds in the Upper Yangtze region remains debatable.Twenty-four samples were collected for conodont biostratigraphical studies from the Paiyunan Formation in the Sanbaiti Section,Huaying,Sichuan Province.The conodont fauna from the Paiyunan Formation,together with the graptolites from the underlying Lungmachi Formation,indicates that the Lower Red Beds at Sanbaiti correspond to the lower Telychian.Comparative analysis indicates that most exposures of the Lower Red Beds in the Upper Yangtze region can be assigned,in general,to the Telychian Stage,except for several localities,where the Lower Red Beds can be roughly dated as an interval between the upper Aeronian and lower Telychian.

A New Species of Jiangxialepis(Galeaspida)from the Lower Telychian(Silurian)of Jiangxi and its Biostratigraphic Significance

A new species of Shuyuidae(Eugaleaspiformes,Galeaspida),Jiangxialepis jiujiangensis sp.nov.,is described from the lower Telychian(Llandovery,Silurian)Qingshui Formation in Jiujiang,Jiangxi Province,China.The new species differs from the type species J.retrospina from Wuhan,Hubei Province in its sharp and posteriorly positioned median dorsal spine and narrow spine-shaped inner cornual processes.The Silurian strata in Xiushui–Wuning area has provided a standard framework for the correlation of Silurian shallow marine red beds in South China.Thus,the finding of J.jiujiangensis from the Silurian Lower Red Beds(LRBs)in Jiangxi Province bears very important biostratigraphic significance.It can directly compare to Jiangxialepis retrospina from the Fentou Formation in Wuhan,Hubei Province in the genus level.This indicates that the age of the fish-bearing strata in Wuhan is most likely to be the early Telychian rather than middle Telychian as previously assumed.