Estonian Journal of Earth Sciences, 2014, 63, 3, 123–143 doi: 10.3176/earth.2014.12 Upper lower Cambrian (provisional Cambrian Series 2) trilobites from northwestern Gansu Province, China a b c c Jan Bergström , Zhou Zhiqiang , Per Ahlberg and Niklas Axheimer a Department of Palaeozoology, Swedish Museum of Natural History, P.O. Box 5007, SE-104 05 Stockholm, Sweden b Xi’an Institute of Geology and Mineral Resources, 438 East You Yi Road, Xi’an 710054, Peoples Republic of China;
[email protected] c Department of Geology, Lund University, Sölvegatan 12, SE-223 62 Lund, Sweden;
[email protected],
[email protected] Received 7 March 2014, accepted 24 June 2014 Abstract. Upper lower Cambrian (provisional Cambrian Series 2) trilobites are described from three sections through the Shuangyingshan Formation in the Beishan area, northwestern Gansu Province, China. The trilobite fauna is dominated by eodiscoid and ‘corynexochid’ trilobites, together representing at least ten genera: Serrodiscus, Tannudiscus, Calodiscus, Pagetides, Kootenia, Edelsteinaspis, Ptarmiganoides?, Politinella, Dinesus and Subeia. Eleven species are described, of which seven are identified with previously described taxa and four described under open nomenclature. The composition of the fauna suggests biogeographic affinity with Siberian rather than Gondwanan trilobite faunas, and the Cambrian Series 2 faunas described herein and from elsewhere in northwestern China seem to be indicative of the marginal areas of the Siberian palaeocontinent. This suggests that the Middle Tianshan–Beishan Terrane may have been located fairly close to Siberia during middle–late Cambrian Epoch 2. Key words: Trilobita, taxonomy, palaeobiogeography, lower Cambrian, Cambrian Series 2, Beishan, Gansu Province, China.