Spatial and Temporal Distribution of the Cryptospirifer Fauna(Middle Permian Brachiopods) in the Tethyan Realm and Its Paleogeographic Implications

The middle Permian Cryptospirifer fauna （brachiopod） has hitherto been found in more than 30 localities in the Yangtze Platform, South China. Examination of data from various localities shows that it occurs stratigraphically in three intervals in the range from the upper Kungurian to Wordian. In the Baoshan block in western Yunnan the fauna occurs in the basal part of the Daaozi Formation and is of possibly an early Wordian age. Outside China the Cryptospirifer fauna has been reported from central and northwest Iran and central Turkey, where the fauna may have an age around the Wordian／Capitanian boundary. Rapid global warming since the late Early Permian and possession of other suitable environmental factors such as proper substrate, clastic input and water depth enabled the Gondwana-derived Baoshan Block and related tectono-stratigraphic units in Iran and Turkey to host the Cryptospirifer fauna, a fauna evolved in the Yangtze Platform that is a type area of the Cathaysian province.

The Bivalve Yangtzedonta is not the Brachiopod Xianfengella

Abstract The alleged ＂holotype＂of the bivalve Yangtzedonta primitiva Yu.1985 figured by Qian （2001） is a broken and distorted specimen of the brachiopod Xianfengella prima He and Yang, 1982 and not the holotype of Y. primitiva. Qian contends that the oldest recognized monoplacophoran, Maikhanella pristinis （Jiang, 1980）, is neither a monoplacophoran nor the oldest molluscan fossil in the Meishucunian Stage of China. Furthermore, he considers that the oldest bivalve Xianfengoconcha eUiptica Zhang, 1980 is an inarticulate brachiopod, not a mollusc. WatsoneUa yunnanensis （He and Yang, 1982）, is associated with Yangtzedonta primitiva Yu but indicates no evolutionary relationship between the Classes Rostroconchia and Bivalvia in the Lower Cambrian Zhongyicun Member of the Yuhucun Formation. Qian＇s confusion in using non-molluscan fossils to discuss the early evolution of shelled molluscs also confuses the basic concepts of the respective groups.

Coevolution of Brachiopod Paleobiogeography and Tectonopaleogeography during the Early–Middle Permian

A comprehensive compilation and systematic analysis of known early and middle Permian brachiopod faunas shows that the early Permian brachiopod faunas comprise three realms, six regions, and eleven provinces, while those of the middle Permian comprise three realms, four regions, and eight provinces. A comparison and analysis of brachiopod faunal patterns reveal a coevolution between global brachiopod paleobiogeography and tectonopaleogeography during the early-middle Permian. Although temperature/latitude is the main factor controlling the formation of three realms, tectonopaleogeographic factors determine the temperature/latitude in which the continents were located. The ＇continental barrier＇ of Pangea, as a ＇central axis＇ continent, divided the three realms into six regions, which indicates that the formation of biogeographic regions was controlled mainly by the tectonopaleogeographic factors. The evolution of tectonopaleogeography was sometimes a long-term process, so that the biogeographic regions（or provinces） controlled by tectonopaleogeography displayed relative stability. Shifts in the nature of biogeographic provinces（e.g., from cool water to warm water, and vice versa）, extensions or narrowing of geographical ranges, and recombinations of some provinces were all related to regional tectonic evolution. The study of the coevolution between brachiopod paleobiogeography and tectonopaleogeography not only accounts for the formation mechanisms of brachiopod paleobiogeographic patterns during the early-middle Permian, but also provides evidences for the locations and configurations of oceans and plates（blocks） during this period.

Jurassic Brachiopods and Paleogeography of North Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

This paper deals with Jurassic brachiopods from North Tibet and South Qinghai and the stratigraphical subdivision there. Based on faunas and strata,a general outline of the palaeogeographical evolution has been traced out along the line of plate-tectonic movements . In this paper , 10 species of 8 genera are described , among which the species Lacunosella rhombica , Rntithyris vulgaris , Tanyothyris appositus , Apatecosia navicularis and Flabellothyris sp . nov . have been recognized as new .

Paleocommunity Replacements of Benthic Brachiopod in the Middle-Upper Devonian in the Longmenshan Area,Southwestern China:Responses to Sea Level Fluctuations

Twelve paleocommunities dominated by benthic brachiopod are recognized in the Givetian-Frasnian stages of the Devonian in the Longmenshan area, southwestern China, in which two kinds of brachiopod community replacement are classified. One is the abrupt replacement, represented by abrupt alternation between the Leiorhynchus community and Zhonghuacoelia-Striatopugnax community in the Frasnian Tuqiaozi Formation. The other is the gradual one, developed in the Givetian Guanwushan Formation, which had been completed by the shift of the Independatrypa lemma-Uncinulus heterocostellis-Emanuella takwanensis community via the Sinospongophyllum irregulare-Pseudomicroplasma fongi community to the Clathrocoilona spissa-Hexagonaria composite reef community. According to analyses of the paleocommunities, either the abrupt or gradual paleocommunity replacement of the Middle-Upper Devonian in the Longmenshan area is suggested as a response to the 5th-order sea level fluctuation due to the replacements of the paleocommunities in a tracts-system of depositional sequence. It is supposed that changes of paleocommunity diversity, one of the results of paleocommunity replacement, are depended on the range and magnitude of sea level fluctuation, but there is not a linear relationship between them. Furthermore, a suggestion is proposed that the concept of paleocommunity succession seem to be abandoned in the paleocommunity analysis because it almost never be practiced to recover the information of community succession in the geological record at present.

First Record of Brachiopod Species in Myanmar

The Paleozoic rocks are well exposed in the Taungnyo area and the main purpose of classification is taxonomic status of the invertebrate fossils and describing the systematic paleontology of brachiopod fossils from Taungnyo Formation. Mainly distributed clastic sedimentary rocks of Taungnyo Formation (Early Carboniferous) and carbonate rocks of Moulmein Limestone Group (Permian to Middle Triassic) are well exposed in the Taungnyo area. In this study, mainly, a total of five species are recognized in the clastic sediments of Taungnyo Formation. Most brachiopods are generally found abundant and well preserved in the mudstone unit. Among them, most of the taxa have not been recorded previously. The brachiopods include: Fimbrispirifer venustus, Ovetensispirifer ovetensium, Aullacella sp., Kayserellae emanuelensis, and Chonopectus sp. All of the species are first recorded in Myanmar.

Biogeographic characteristics of Zhesi brachiopod fauna and reconstruction of tectonopaleogeography of Jiamusi-Mongolia Block

The Kungurian-Capitanian ( Permian) Zhesi branchiopod fauna is mainly composed of cold-water typed taxa with high diversity and abundance. This fauna is similar with the coeval brachiopod faunas from Timan-Pechora,Svalbard,and Queen Elizabeth Islands of the Boreal Realm,with no real"warm-water"species. Zhesi brachiopod fauna is a cold-water fauna and should be assigned to the Boreal Realm. Considering the paleogeographic characteristics of this fauna and the basic rationale of paleobiogeographic provinces being controlled by latitude-temperate,and that the above areas were located at 50°N 70°N in the global paleoclimate reconstruction map compiled by Boucot et al. ,the paleo-latitude of the southern margin of Jiamusi-Mongolia Block,where developed the Zhesi brachiopod fauna,is suggested ranging from 40°N to 60°N. Zhesi brachiopod fauna is an endemic fauna,containing more than 75% endemic species and self-grouped as a biogeographic province,termed Inner Mongolia Province. These characteristics indicate that this area was closed or semiclosed at that time. On the Jiamusi-Mongolia Block,the Herlen-Jiamusi Old-land as an obvious "continental barrier"hindered the northward migration of the Zhesi brachiopod fauna and the immigration of brachiopod species from other areas. The Tarim plate has collided with the Kazakhstan plate and the western part of South Tianshan-Beishan-Xar Moron Ocean has been closed. At the same time,the western margin of Jiamusi-Mongolia Block was joined with the Tarim plate. The Xar Moron Ocean in south of Jiamusi-Mongolia Block was wide enough and the ocean temperature rose gradually southward,so that it is not suitable for the cold-water brachiopods to survive and thrive on the northern margin of the North China plate. Thus,the ocean with large width and high temperature formed another natural barrier for the southward migration of the cold-water brachiopods.

Mechanism on bipolar distribution of Permian brachiopods

By reasearch on geographic distribution,nine genera in bipolar distribution are selected from Permian brachiopods.These taxa originated from middle-high latitude areas in the boreal realm,of which five genera were derived from Late Carboniferous,and other four genera originated from Permian.They were all in bipolar distribution during some different stages in Permian.Specific diversity for each genus was high in the boreal realm,whereas in the Gondwana realm was very low.Perdurability was long in the boreal realm,and short in the Gondwana realm.It was the time when these nine genera came to their maximum diversity that these genera appeared in the Gondwana and formed bipolar distribution;while they also migrated to the low latitude from high latitude.This shows very close relationship between several main cooling events in Permian and the migration of genera from the boreal realm to the Gondwana realm through the Tethys.Therefore,the cooling events might be the main drive which caused these cold-water-type brachiopods migrated to the Gondwana realm and being bipolar distribution.In this process,the planula tolerance to warm water would be another important factor.

Early-Mid Ordovician brachiopod diversification in South China

Affected by paleogeographic position, paleoclimatic condition and depositional environments, the increase of the Early-Mid Ordovician brachiopod diversity of South China commenced at the beginning of the Ordovician (early Tremadoc), accelerated from the Tetra- graptus approximatus Biozone (base of Arenig), and reached its first acme in the Didymograptus eobifidus Biozone (mid early Arenig) when the number of brachiopod genera was over 7 times as great as that at the start of the Ordovician. This was the first radiation in the history of brachiopod macroevolution in South China, which occurred nearly 5 graptolitic biozones earlier than the global trend of the great Ordovician biodiversification (in the lower part of the Undulograptus austrodentatus Biozone). It is also characterized by (1) the origination or first occurrences of some major groups, such as the punctate dalmanelloids and the pseudopunctate stro- phomenoids including Plectambonitoidea (cardinal process simple or absent) and Stro- phomenoidea (cardinal process bilobed) in South China; (2) niche expansion, particularly in the first occupation of deeper water benthic regimes by the Euorthisina-Nocturnellia Association developed at Houping, Chengkou, northern Chongqing; and (3) the differentiation of brachiopod faunas under different environmental conditions. The gradual and increasing separation from Gondwana may have been one of the factors responsible for the radiation in South China.

Distribution of Tuvaella Brachiopod Fauna and Its Tectonic Significance

Tuvaella brachiopod fauna are distributed in an arc in three areas, including the Zeya-Hailar （海拉尔）-Shinejinst area, the Najramdal Uul-Kyzyl area, and the Barkol-Fuyun （富蕴） area. The Tuvaella fauna in the Zeya-Hailar-Shinejinst area are distributed in the northern margin of Jiamusi （佳木斯）-Mongolia block along the Mongolia-Okhotsk suture between the Siberia plate and the Jiamusi-Mongolia block but not appear in the corresponding Siberia plate. The Tuvaella fauna in the Najramdal Uul-Kyzyl area are distributed in the southwestern part of the Siberia plate as the accelerated fold belts during the Salairian-Caledonian periods, and those in the Barkol-Fuyun area are distributed in the northeastern margin of Kazakhstan plate. They are distributed along the Irtysb suture between the Siberia plate and the Kazakhstan plate. The Tuvaeila fauna became domestic fauna during the Wenlock and Pridoli （Middle-Late Silurian） and form a unique biogeographic province, i.e., the Mongolia-Okhotsk Province. This biogeographic province is sustained to the Mississippian （Carboniferous）, perhaps due to the semiclosed state of the Mongolia-Okhotsk Ocean. The northeastern margin （right now the southwestern margin） of Siberia plate, the northern margin of Jiamusi-Mongolia block, and the northeastern margin of Kazakhstan plate might be conjuncted in an arc region from Wenlock to Mississippian, along the southern margin of the Irtysh-Mid Mongolia-Okhotsk Ocean. This is coincident with the fact that the Siberia plate rotated 180° clockwise since the Mesozoic and located in the middle-high latitude during Devonian, and the coral reef limestone is widely developed in the Jiamusi- Mongolia block during the Early and Middle Devonian, which suggests that the block was positioning in middle-lower latitude at that time and that the Kazakhstan plate was also located in low latitude then.

Coupling relationships between brachiopods and Girvanella during the Late Devonian F-F transition in Guilin, South China

The abundance curves derived from area proportions of brachiopods and Girvanella in the thin sections from the Yangdi section, South China, exhibits complex relationships during the Late Devonian Frasnian-Famennian transition. The living activity of brachiopods such as grazing and borrowing did great damage to the growth of Girvanella. However, there was more to just a mere a survival competing relationship between them, Girvanella actually improved marine environments by oxygenating the dysoxic ambient sea-water through photosynthesis in the lower Kellwasser Horizon. Profited from this improvement brachiopods' abundance increased subsequently and suppressed Girvanella again. Nonetheless, without Girvanella's photosynthesis, brachiopods were wiped out by the farther anoxic environments in the upper Kellwasser Horizon. The complex relationships between Girvanella and brachiopods may be a key to unlocking the relationships between geomicrobes and metazoans in the geological overturn periods.

Changhsingian sea level changes and brachiopod diversity in the upper Yangtze region

Sedimentary environment and distribution of brachiopods during the Changhsingian in Xingwen, Si-chuan Province of the upper Yangtze region, are statistically analyzed. Changing regularity in diversity of brachiopod is synthetically investigated based on qualitative and quantitative analysis of transgres-sion-regression cycles. The results show that the diversity of brachiopods in this region in the trans-gression (aggradation) sequence is higher than that in the regression (progradation) sequence. The brachiopods in this area began to diversify in the early Changhsingian. And the species diversity had four peak stages which are respectively in the middle Early Changhsingian, late Early Changhsingian, early Late Changhsingian and late Late Changhsingian. The species diversity reached its highest in the late Late Changhsingian but this is followed by a sharp decrease at the end-hanghsingian, indicating the mass extinction of most brachiopod species which were prosperous in the Late Paleozoic.

Different fossil brachiopod skeletal microstructure of different information on carbon and oxygen isotope contents

Whether there is isotope fractionation caused by metabolism (vital effect) of bra-chiopods in geologic time with their shells’ δ18O and δ13C has been studied intensively in the field of carbonate isotope geochemistry in the last decade. The approach to dealing with the problem is by comparing isotopic compositions between different fossil brachiopods with their secondary shells which usually consist of two kinds of layers: prismatic layer composed of pris-

Evolutionary patterns of Productida (Brachiopoda) morphology during the Permian in South China

The evolutionary patterns of Productida (brachiopod) morphology throughout the Permian show that while the percentage proportion of Productida (brachiopod) with strongly concentric and radial ornamentation declined from the Cisuralian to the Guadalupian, and then increased towards the Changhsingian via Wuchiapingian, the percentage proportion of Productida (brachiopod) with fine concentric and radial ornamentation distinctly increased from the Cisuralian to the Guadalupian, slightly declined towards the Wuchiapingian, and then increased towards the Changhsingian. From the Cisuralian to the Changhsingian, the percentage proportion of brachiopods with spinose ornamentation shows a persistent declining trend. The shell size generally indicates a miniaturization trend at species level during the Wuchiapingian to Changhsingian (including the transitional bed). These evolutionary patterns of brachiopod ornamentation and size are possibly related to the anoxia, food shortage, sea-level fluctuation, and change of substrate in the Permian (including the Permian-Triassic transitional interval) in South China.

Recovery of Brachiopod and Ammonoid Faunas Following the End-Permian Crisis:Additional Evidence from the Lower Triassic of the Russian Far East and Kazakhstan

After the End-Permian mass extinction, ammonoids reached levels of taxonomic diver- sity higher than in the Changhsingian by the Dienerian Substage of the Induan. However, brachiopods exhibit a prolonged delay in recovery, and their taxonomic diversity had not recovered to Late Permian levels even by the Olenekian. The differential patterns of recovery between these two clades may reflect fundamental differences in physiology and behavior. Brachiopods were benthic organisms that were dependent on specific trophic sources, and their general reduction in size during the Early Triassic may have been a response to a relative paucity of food resources. In contrast, ammonoids were sluggish- nektic organisms that utilized a wider range of trophic sources and that suffered no comparable size decrease during the Early Triassic. Brachiopods may have been at a disadvantage also due to vulner- abilities associated with their larval stage, during which they had to locate a suitable substrate for set- tlement. In contrast, ammonoids had no larval stage and juveniles may have been dispersed widely into favorable habitats. These factors may account for differences in the relative success of ammonoids and brachiopods at high-latitude regions following the End-Permian mass extinction： ammonoids success- fully reeolonized the Boreal region during the Early Triassic whereas brachiopods did not.

TRACE ELEMENT GEOCHEMISTRY OF INARTICULATE BRACHIOPODS AND SEDIMENTARY ROCK ON THE CAMBRIAN-ORDOVICIAN BOUNDARY

That the contents and compositions of trace elements, especially REE in sedimentary rock and agustite originating from inarticulate brachiopods, conodont, etc. change in the vertical direction usually has a close relation with the stratigraphic boundary of important biologies. This paper systematically analyses REE and 16 trace elements such as U, Th, Sr, Ba, Co, Ni, Cr, V, Cu, Pb, Zn, Sc, Au, As in sedimentary rocks and the agustite on the standard stratified section of the Cambrian-Ordovician Boundary in Dayangcha, Huniiang, Jilin Province. Based on this, the authors investigate the REE distribution pattern and the law of the contents and compositions of trace elements changing, providing the geochemical evidence for building stratified sections of the Cambrian-Ordovician boundary and discussing sedimentary environments.

Early-Middle Ordovician brachiopod dispersal patterns in South China

Paleobiogeographic patterns of the brachiopod faunas before and during the first radiation of the Great Ordovi-cian Biodiversification Event(GOBE)in South China at 6 different localities from the upper Jiangnan Slope to the vast area of the Upper Yangtze Platform show several interesting features.First,the initial brachiopod diver-sity acme was accompanied by both high origination and extinction rates.Second,no significant changes took place in the taxonomic composition and paleobiogeographic pattern of the brachiopod fauna during the radia-tion at 5 of the 6 localities studied except the near shore locality,where the first brachiopod radiation was much later than at other localities and was marked by a dramatic increase in endemic constituents.Third,orthides were the predominant brachiopod group during the radiation,and regional brachiopod taxa played a significant role in defining the paleobiogeographic pattern of the radiation.Fourth,the first brachiopod radiation was asso-ciated with 3 major pulses of onshore migration from the upper Jiangnan Slope through the central Upper Yang-tze Platform to the near shore settings of the platform,with the middle pulse being the most significant.Finally,paleogeographic dispersal took place in both onshore and offshore directions,although the onshore expansion was more prominent;several key brachiopods,such as Paralenorthis,Nocturnellia,Protoskenidioides,Nere-idella,Euorthisina and Yangtzeella,first appeared on the upper Jiangnan Slope and later formed distinct,and taxonomically diverse,communities on the Upper Yangtze Platform.The paleogeographic dispersal of brachio-pods is considered to be closely related to the tectonic evolution of the Qianzhong Arch.

Coevolution of global brachiopod palaeobiogeography and tectonopalaeogeography during the Carboniferous

The global brachiopod palaeobiogeography of the Mississippian is divided into three realms, six regions, and eight provinces, while that of the Pennsylvanian is divided into three realms, six regions, and nine provinces. On this basis,we examined coevolutionary relationships between brachiopod palaeobiogeography and tectonopalaeogeography using a comparative approach spanning the Carboniferous. The appearance of the Boreal Realm in the Mississippian was closely related to movements of the northern plates into middle–high latitudes. From the Mississippian to the Pennsylvanian, the palaeobiogeography of Australia transitioned from the Tethys Realm to the Gondwana Realm,which is related to the southward movement of eastern Gondwana from middle to high southern latitudes. The transition of the Yukon–Pechora area from the Tethys Realm to the Boreal Realm was associated with the northward movement of Laurussia, whose northern margin entered middle–high northern latitudes then. The formation of the six palaeobiogeographic regions of Mississippian and Pennsylvanian brachiopods was directly related to "continental barriers", which resulted in the geographical isolation of each region. The barriers resulted from the configurations of Siberia, Gondwana, and Laurussia, which supported the Boreal, Tethys, and Gondwana realms, respectively. During the late Late Devonian–Early Mississippian, the Rheic seaway closed and North America(from Laurussia) joined with South America and Africa(from Gondwana), such that the function of "continental barriers" was strengthened and the differentiation of eastern and western regions of the Tethys Realm became more distinct. In the Barents Ocean tectonic domain during the Pennsylvanian, the brachiopods on the northern margin of the Barents Ocean formed the Verkhoyansk–Taymyr Province, while those on the southern margin formed the Yukon–Pechora Province. The Mongolia–Okhotsk Province was formed by brachiopods of the Mongolia–Okhotsk Ocean tectonic domain. The Northern Margin of the Palaeo-Tethys Ocean Province and the Southern Margin of the Palaeo-Tethys Ocean Province were formed, respectively, by brachiopods on the northern and southern margins of the Palaeo-Tethys Ocean tectonic domain. South China and Southeast Asia were dissociated from the major continental blocks mentioned above, and formed the South China Province.

Coevolution of brachiopod paleobiogeography and tectonopaleogeography during the late Paleozoic in Central Asia

Patterns of brachiopod paleobiogeographic regionalization in Central Asia reveal a coevolution between brachiopod paleobiogeography and tectonopaleogeography during the Early Devonian,Early Carboniferous,Late Carboniferous,Early Permian,and Middle Permian.The coevolutionary relationship reasonably accounts for the formation mechanisms of brachiopod paleobiogeography in this region,and also provides a basis for studies on the location and configuration of oceans and plates(blocks)during the late Paleozoic in Central Asia.

Shell concentrations of Early Silurian virgianid brachiopods in northern Guizhou: Temporal and spatial distribution and tempestite formation

Shell beds in the uppermost Xiangshuyuan Formation and its coeval Upper Shihniulan Formation (Lower Silurian), northern Guizhou, SW China, are interpreted as tempestites occurring on the Upper Yangtze Platform. The shells are dominated by two endemic and transient virgianid (brachiopod) taxa, Paraconchidium shiqianensis and Virgianella glabera, which vary in relative abundance and deposited as fragments of valves with cemented micrite that differs from the surrounding sediment, demonstrat- ing that the shells were not originally preserved in growth positions. The thicknesses of individual shell layers vary from ten centimeters to more than four meters. Shells had been strongly stirred up by high-energy currents, mainly caused by ocean storm events and probably related to the profile of the geographic shape of the coastline. Fragmentation of shells, in particular, their thinning anterior parts of ventral and dorsal valves are more intensive. The benthic assemblages are from lower BA2 to upper BA3 in depth, assigned to near shoal belt in geographic background. Breakage and stacking density are of the indexes of proximal and distal transportations. Northern Guizhou was located within the lower latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere during the Silurian time, and obviously affected the depth of the virgianid inhabitation. Most of these shells were disturbed repeatedly by surges. It is inferred that on average, several ten thousand years of growth of shells were required for development of shell layers, followed by storm disruption.