Journal of Paleontology, 91(6), 2017, p. 1199–1219 Copyright © 2017, The Paleontological Society 0022-3360/17/0088-0906 doi: 10.1017/jpa.2017.71


Revised Wuchiapingian conodont taxonomy and succession of South China


Dong-xun Yuan,1,2 Shu-zhong Shen,1,3 and Charles M. Henderson2 1State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences,


Nanjing 210008, China ⟨dxyuan@nigpas.ac.cn⟩; ⟨szshen@nigpas.ac.cn⟩ 2Department of Geoscience, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada, T2N 1N4 ⟨cmhender@ucalgary.ca⟩ 3Centre for Research and Education of Biological Evolution and Environment, Nanjing University, 163 Xianlin Avenue, Nanjing 210023, China


Abstract.—South China has become the most important area to establish a global stratigraphic framework of the Wuchiapingian Stage because completeWuchiapingian sequences include the GSSPs for the base and top of the stage. As the markers of the Wuchiapingian GSSP, conodonts are the most important fossil group to establish the Wuchiapingian biostratigraphic framework. However, few documents have investigated in detail the conodont biostratigraphic succession through the entire Wuchiapingian Stage. Furthermore, the conodont taxonomy of several Wuchiapingian Clarkina species is still debated. Therefore, we here review all Wuchiapingian Clarkina species from South China and figure ontogenetic growth series from juvenile to adult individuals for each valid and important species in order to revise both Wuchiapingian conodont taxonomy and the biostratigraphic succession. Based on the Penglaitan, Dukou, and Nanjiang sections, seven conodont zones (Clarkina postbitteri postbitteri, C. dukouensis, C. asymmetrica, C. leveni, C. guangyuanensis, C. transcaucasica,and C. orientalis) are recognized. The Wuchiapingian Clarkina species lineage is also reviewed to confirm the conodont biostratigraphic framework. The Guadalupian-Lopingian boundary (GLB) interval represents a sequence boundary. The time framework of the pre-Lopingian extinction interval indicates that the beginning of the end-Guadalupian regression is in the upper part of the Jinogondolella postserrata Zone, and the beginning of the early Lopingian transgression is in the lower part of the Clarkina dukouensis Zone in South China.


Introduction


Continuous marine depositional sequences of the Wuchiapingian are very limited in distribution because the global end-Guadalupian regression resulted in the emergence of much of the supercontinent Pangea. There are only a few regions along the continentalmargin and some blocks in the Paleotethys with well-developed marine Wuchiapingian sequences in theworld. South China iswell known for completeWuchiapingian sequences and theGSSPs for the base and the top of the Wuchiapingian Stage have been precisely defined by conodonts, respectively in the Penglaitan Section of Guangxi Province and in the Meishan Section of Zhejiang Province (Jin et al., 2006a, b). Thus, South China has become the most important area to establish a global stratigraphic framework of theWuchiapingian Stage. Conodonts are one of the most important fossil groups in the


Permian because all GSSPs and candidate sections for GSSPs of the Permian either have been or will be defined by conodont species, and the biostratigraphic framework in the Permian was also established based on the evolutionary lineages of conodonts (Henderson, 2017).Wuchiapingian conodonts have been widely documented from many sections in South China, including the Liangshan area in Shaanxi(Wang, 1978), theMeishan sections in Zhejiang (Wang and Wang, 1981; Zhao et al., 1981; Sheng et al., 1987; Mei et al., 2004; Zhang et al., 2009; Yuan et al., 2014a), the Xuanen, Ermen, Wufeng, Tianqiao, and Maoershan sections in Hubei (Clark and Wang, 1988; Duan, 1990; Li, 1991;


Wang andXia, 2004; Zhang et al., 2008), the Shangsi, Dukou, and Nanjiang sections in Sichuan (Li et al., 1989;Mei et al., 1994a, b), the Yangtaoshan and Yangongtang sections in Anhui (Duan, 1990), the Penglaitan, Tieqiao, and Fengshan sections in Guangxi (Mei et al., 1994b, 1998a;Wang et al., 1998;Wang, 2000, 2001, 2002; Henderson et al., 2002; Jin et al., 2006a), the Hushan region in Jiangsu (Duan, 1990), the Suoxiyu, Rencunping, Jiangya, and Matian sections in Hunan (Wang and Dong, 1991; Tian, 1993a, b; Mei and Wardlaw, 1996; Cao et al., 2013), the Qibaoshan Section in Jiangxi (Wang et al., 1997), and the Lengshuixi and Daijiagou sections in Chongqing (Yang et al., 2008; Yuan et al., 2015). However, most of the previous conodont studies focused on the Capitanian-Wuchiapingian (Guadalupian-Lopingian) boundary interval and the Wuchiapingian-Changhsingian boundary interval (e.g., Wang et al., 1997; Wang, 2000, 2001, 2002; Henderson et al., 2002; Mei et al., 2004; Jin et al., 2006a, b), or they simply described a few conodont elements (e.g., Zhao et al., 1981; Clark and Wang, 1988; Duan, 1990; Li, 1991; Wang and Dong, 1991; Wang and Xia, 2004; Yang et al., 2008). Only a few studies have investigated in detail the conodont biostratigraphic succession through the entire Wuchiapingian Stage (e.g., the Dukou and Penglaitan sections in Mei et al., 1994a, b, 1998a). Mei et al. (1994a, b, 1998a) illustrated only a few specimens for most species, which do not display the full range of character morpho- logy and ontogenetic series. The sample-population concept (Wardlaw and Collinson, 1979; Mei et al., 2004; Shen and Mei, 2010; Yuan et al., 2014a) demands the illustration of multiple


1199


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130  |  Page 131  |  Page 132  |  Page 133  |  Page 134  |  Page 135  |  Page 136  |  Page 137  |  Page 138  |  Page 139  |  Page 140  |  Page 141  |  Page 142  |  Page 143  |  Page 144  |  Page 145  |  Page 146  |  Page 147  |  Page 148  |  Page 149  |  Page 150  |  Page 151  |  Page 152  |  Page 153  |  Page 154  |  Page 155  |  Page 156  |  Page 157  |  Page 158  |  Page 159  |  Page 160  |  Page 161  |  Page 162  |  Page 163  |  Page 164  |  Page 165  |  Page 166  |  Page 167  |  Page 168  |  Page 169  |  Page 170  |  Page 171  |  Page 172  |  Page 173  |  Page 174  |  Page 175  |  Page 176  |  Page 177  |  Page 178  |  Page 179  |  Page 180  |  Page 181  |  Page 182  |  Page 183  |  Page 184  |  Page 185  |  Page 186  |  Page 187  |  Page 188  |  Page 189  |  Page 190  |  Page 191  |  Page 192  |  Page 193  |  Page 194  |  Page 195  |  Page 196  |  Page 197  |  Page 198  |  Page 199  |  Page 200  |  Page 201  |  Page 202  |  Page 203  |  Page 204  |  Page 205  |  Page 206  |  Page 207  |  Page 208  |  Page 209  |  Page 210  |  Page 211  |  Page 212  |  Page 213  |  Page 214  |  Page 215  |  Page 216  |  Page 217  |  Page 218  |  Page 219  |  Page 220  |  Page 221  |  Page 222  |  Page 223  |  Page 224  |  Page 225  |  Page 226  |  Page 227  |  Page 228  |  Page 229  |  Page 230  |  Page 231  |  Page 232  |  Page 233  |  Page 234  |  Page 235  |  Page 236  |  Page 237  |  Page 238  |  Page 239  |  Page 240  |  Page 241  |  Page 242  |  Page 243  |  Page 244  |  Page 245  |  Page 246  |  Page 247  |  Page 248  |  Page 249  |  Page 250  |  Page 251  |  Page 252  |  Page 253  |  Page 254  |  Page 255  |  Page 256  |  Page 257  |  Page 258  |  Page 259  |  Page 260  |  Page 261  |  Page 262  |  Page 263  |  Page 264  |  Page 265  |  Page 266  |  Page 267  |  Page 268  |  Page 269  |  Page 270  |  Page 271  |  Page 272  |  Page 273  |  Page 274  |  Page 275  |  Page 276