Early Triassic (Late Griesbachian) Gastropods from South China (Shanggan, Guangxi)
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Swiss J Geosci (2010) 103:121–128 DOI 10.1007/s00015-010-0005-5 Early Triassic (Late Griesbachian) gastropods from South China (Shanggan, Guangxi) Andrzej Kaim • Alexander Nu¨tzel • Hugo Bucher • Thomas Bru¨hwiler • Nicolas Goudemand Received: 17 December 2009 / Accepted: 2 February 2010 / Published online: 9 June 2010 Ó Swiss Geological Society 2010 Abstract An Early Triassic (Griesbachian) gastropod about gastropods from the aftermath of the end-Permian fauna is reported from South China (Shanggan, Guangxi) mass extinction event. The gastropod association from and consists of four species: Bellerophon abrekensis, Shanggan shares one species with Primorye, Far East Wannerispira shangganensis Kaim & Nu¨tzel sp. nov., Russia (B. abrekensis). Two species, W. shangganensis and Naticopsis sp., and Palaeonarica guangxinensis Kaim & P. guangxinensis, closely resemble specimens reported Nu¨tzel sp. nov. The taxon Wannerispira Kaim & Nu¨tzel from the Griesbachian of Oman. This could suggest that nom. nov. replaces Pagodina Wanner non Van Beneden. Griesbachian gastropod faunas of the Tethys were rather This is the first report of Bellerophon abrekensis from homogenous although the data are still scarce. China. Previously, it was only known from its type locality in Far East Russia. Wannerispira shangganensis sp. is the Keywords Gastropoda Á China Á Early Triassic Á first certain Triassic report of the Permian subfamily Extinction Á Recovery Á Taxonomy Neilsoniinae and represents a holdover taxon. The neritimorph Palaeonarica is reported for the first time from the Early Triassic and this is the oldest occurrence of this genus. Introduction Compared with other Griesbachian gastropods, the present material is relatively well preserved so that the taxonomy The fauna in the immediate aftermath of the end-Permian rests on rather firm ground. Very few nominal taxa have mass extinction event is of greatest interest because it is been reported from the Griesbachian and therefore the part of the extinction pattern itself, in that it defines which present report presents substantial additional information taxa actually went extinct and which survived, and how much ‘‘disastrous’’ early post-extinctions communities actually were. Although gastropods have been considered Editorial handling: D. Marty. to be relatively extinction resistant (Erwin and Signor 1990), only about 80 nominate gastropod species repre- A. Kaim Á A. Nu¨tzel senting roughly 40 genera (excluding Lazarus taxa) are Bayerische Staatssammlung fu¨r Pala¨ontologie und Geologie, known from the Early Triassic, which is a very small Department fu¨r Geo- und Umweltwissenschaften, Sektion fu¨r Pala¨ontologie, Ludwig-Maximilians-University number when compared with gastropod diversity during Munich, 80333 Munich, Germany the remaining Triassic (Nu¨tzel 2005). The Griesbachian diversity is even lower and the preservation is generally & A. Kaim ( ) very poor in this interval of time in addition to the general Instytut Paleobiologii PAN, ul. Twarda 51/55, 00-818 Warsaw, Poland scarcity of fossiliferous exposures of that age. Therefore, e-mail: [email protected] any additional information about reasonably well-pre- served gastropods from this critical time interval is H. Bucher Á T. Bru¨hwiler Á N. Goudemand extremely useful. Although the present gastropod fauna Pala¨ontologisches Institut und Museum, Universita¨tZu¨rich, Karl Schmid-Strasse 4, from Shanggan (NW Guangxi, South China) comprises 8006 Zurich, Switzerland only four species, it provides important biostratigraphic 122 A. Kaim et al. data that have direct implications for the evolution of belongs to the South China Block, which occupied an gastropods during the Griesbachian. equatorial position at the boundary between the Tethyan Early Triassic gastropods from China have been studied and Panthalassian domains in Early and Middle Triassic by Yu¨ et al. (1963), Wang and Xi (1980), Pan (1982), Tong times (Gilder et al. 1995). and Erwin (2001) and Pan et al. (2003). About 34 gastro- The Lower Triassic mixed carbonate-siliciclastic series pod species have been reported from the Early Triassic of of the Luolou Formation in Guangxi overlies Late China, 11 of them, however, are in open nomenclature. The Permian skeletal reef limestones of the Wujiaping For- species are attributed to 27 genera but many attributions mation (Ovtcharova et al. 2006; Galfetti et al. 2007, need critical evaluation or re-sampling because preserva- 2008). Latest Permian and the Griesbachian and lower tion of this material is usually poor. Dienerian part of the Luolou Formation at Shaggan are well exposed, fossiliferous, and continuously exposed within a single fault bounded block. This section was Locality and stratigraphy studied by Bru¨hwiler et al. (2008), who documented in detail the local ammonoid sequence. The studied gas- The new gastropod fauna was found near Shanggan, which tropods come from a coquinoid lense intercalated within is located a few kilometres north of Leye in Guangxi the uppermost portion of the basal microbial limestone Province of South China (Fig. 1). In Early Triassic, this (sample SHA 3, see Bru¨hwiler et al. 2008). This coarse area was located South of the Yangtze carbonate platform biocalcarenite is trapped between the uppermost micro- in the Nanpanjiang Basin (Galfetti et al. 2007, 2008). The bial domes, and displays obvious signs of sorting, either basin was widely open through present-day Guangxi and by waves or by currents. This coquinoid lense contains Yunnan provinces and extended into central Guizhou abundant small bivalves, gastropods, brachiopods, and (Galfetti et al. 2007, 2008). Palaeogeographically it very abundant, small-sized specimens of Ophiceras sp. Fig. 1 Location and stratigraphical occurrence of the siliceous limestone Early N South limestone alternating with clay Triassic gastropod fauna from Shanggan, China Guangxi, South China. volcanic ash layer Spitsbergen a Shanggan section. The microbial limestone Greenland fossiliferous lense SHA-3 30°N Abrek coquina lense Alps P occurs ca. 10 m above the Utah a P Tethys n P t A Permian–Triassic boundary. 0° h A Shanggan N a G l Opb:‘Ophiceras beds’; Pcb: N Japan a E Oman s A s ‘Proptychites candidus beds’. G Timor a 30°S Modified from Bru¨hwiler et al. Sha8 E Himalaya A (2008). b Palaeogeographical 20 m Sha4 Pcb Sha5 world map of Early Triassic Australia Sha7 times with South China (star) 70°S and other gastropod-bearing 0°60° 120° b localities (shaded circles) 105°E 107°E 109°E indicated. Modified after c Brayard et al. (2006). 15 Guiyang Opb Sha3 c Geographical location of Guiding Shanggan village in Leye County, northern Guangxi Guizhou 26°N Province Triassic 10 Wangmo SHANGGAN Leye N Fengshan Donglan Lingyun 5 Yunnan Bama 24°N Bose Guangxi Nanning CHINA Permian 0 Changsingian Griesbachiana Dienerian 200 km Dalong Formation Luolou Formation Early Triassic gastropods from South China 123 indet., which indicate a late Griesbachian age (Bru¨hwiler Material: 8 specimens. et al. 2008). Most specimens are broken, but not abra- Measurements: ded, which suggests that this material was not remobilized many times by waves or currents before Specimen number Length (mm) Width (mm) being eventually deposited between the microbial domes. PIMUZ 28176 9.6 7.8 The limestone is hard and splintery. It has a beige yel- PIMUZ 28178 12.0 8.6 low colour. The gastropod and ammonoid shells are PIMUZ 28179 9.8 7.8 calcitized. Systematic palaeontology (by Andrzej Kaim & Alexander Description: Shell globular, longer than wide; shell Nu¨tzel) ornamented with collabral ribs bent posteriorly towards the Institutional abbreviations: PIMUZ, Pala¨ontologisches selenizone. In adults, ribs are differentiated into sets of Institut und Museum der Universita¨tZu¨rich, Switzerland. stronger and weaker ribs. No spiral ornamentation present; selenizone long and slightly elevated, slit short; pseu- Class Gastropoda Cuvier, 1798 doumbilicus small. Order Amphigastropoda Simroth, 1906 Discussion: B. abrekensis has been described by Kaim Superfamily Bellerophontoidea McCoy, 1852 (2009) based on well-preserved material from Late Gri- Family Bellerophontidae McCoy, 1852 esbachian of South Primorye, Far East Russia. B. Genus Bellerophon Montfort, 1808 abrekensis has previously been known as ‘‘Bellerophon sp. indet.’’ of Bittner (1899) from the Lower Triassic of the Type species: Bellerophon vasulites Montfort, 1808; Ussuri region, Far East Russia. It was misidentified as Stringocephalen-Kalk, Middle Devonian, Germany. ‘‘Bellerophon asiaticus’’ by Kiparisova (1947). B. asiaticus Bellerophon abrekensis Kaim, 2009, Fig. 2 Wirth, 1936 has been redefined by Yochelson and Hongfu 1899 Bellerophon sp. indet.—Bittner: p. 28, pl. 4, (1985) and was assigned to the genus Retispira. B. asiati- figs. 26–28. cus has also been reported from China by Yu¨ et al. (1963). non 1936 Bellerophon asiaticus sp. nov.—Wirth: p. 441, However, the description of the specimen from Sichuan fig 14: 7a, b. Province is extremely brief and the illustration is very poor 1947 Bellerophon asiaticus Wirth—Kiparisova: p. 121, so that any taxonomic assignment of this material is pl. 24, figs. 6, 7. speculative. Kaim (2009) compared B. abrekensis with *2009 Bellerophon abrekensis sp. nov.—Kaim: p. 147, Bellerophon panxianensis Yu¨ in Wang and Xi (1980) and figs. 145–136. stated that the holotype of B. panxianensis is flattened Fig. 2 Bellerophon abrekensis Kaim, 2009 from Griesbachian (Early Triassic) sample SHA-3, Shanggan, Guangxi, South China. (a, d) PIMUZ 28178