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Permian gastropods from the Tak Fa Limestone, Nakhon Sawan, Northern Thailand CHATCHALERM KETWETSURIYA, ALEXANDER NÜTZEL & PITSANUPONG KANJANAPAYONT A silicified Middle Permian (Wordian) gastropod fauna is reported from the Tak Fa Limestone from Northern Thailand. It is the first diverse Permian gastropod fauna known from Thailand. The fauna comes from shallow water carbonates that are rich in fusulinids, sponges and calcareous algae. Forty gastropod species are reported, among them 17 nominate species and 23 species in open nomenclature. Thus, this fauna represents one of the richest Permian gastropod faunas known from Southeast Asia. Twelve species and one genus are new to science (all new taxa authored by Nützel & Ketwetsuriya). The new genus is Takfaia. The new species are Pharkidonotus khaonoiensis, Khumerspira thailandensis, Baylea? umbilicata, Takfaia kuesi, Glabrocingulum magnum, Knightinella ornata, Anomphalus lateumbilicatus, Yunnania pulchra, Microdoma carinata, Trachydomia takhliensis, Goniasma tricarinata and Cambodgia acuminata. The gastropod fauna is dominated by typical Late Palaeozoic cosmopolitan genera with bellerophontoids and pleurotomariines being most abundant. • Key words: Gastropoda, Late Palaeozoic, Permian, Thai- land, silicification, diversity. KETWETSURIYA, C., NÜTZEL,A.&KANJANAPAYONT, P. 2016. Permian gastropods from the Tak Fa Limestone, Nakhon Sawan, Northern Thailand. Bulletin of Geosciences 91(3), 481–513 (24 figures). Czech Geological Survey, Prague. ISSN 1214-1119. Manuscript received June 1, 2016; accepted in revised form June 30, 2016; published online September 27, 2016; issued November 25, 2016. Chatchalerm Ketwetsuriya & Pitsanupong Kanjanapayont, Department of Geology, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, 10330 Bangkok, Thailand; [email protected], [email protected] • Alexander Nützel (corresponding author), SNSB-Bayerische Staatssammlung für Paläontologie und Geologie, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Palaeontology & Geobiology, Geobio-Center LMU, Richard-Wagner-Str. 10, 80333 München, Germany; [email protected] The present contribution reports and describes a Middle Perm- from the Kaeng Krachan Group and mentioned presence of ian (Wordian) gastropod fauna from the Tak Fa Formation the gastropod genus Peruvispira. Sone (2010) reported the of the Saraburi Group, Nakhon Sawan, North Thailand (in- species Magnicapitatus huazhangae from the Middle formally known as Tak Fa Limestone). The Tak Fa Lime- Permian (Guadalupian) of East Thailand and this is the stone is fossiliferous and yields a diverse Permian inverte- only Permian gastropod species described from Thailand brate fauna. The present gastropod fauna has previously (type locality) to this point. been reported in a preliminary note by Ketwetsuriya et al. (2014) based on silicified shells weathering out at the sur- face of calcareous rocks. Meanwhile, the carbonate samples Geological setting have been dissolved and numerous silicified gastropod shells have been recovered. With 40 species, the present fauna is The Permian limestones yielding the studied gastropods one of the most diverse Permian gastropod faunas from are exposed along Khao Noi hill, located in Takhli dis- Southeast Asia supplementing our knowledge of Middle trict, Southeast of Nakhon Sawan province, ca 80 km Permian gastropod distribution in this region considerably. south of Nakhon Sawan City, Northern Thailand, Previously, there have been few reports or mentions on 15° 18´51.801˝ N, 100° 26´30.358˝ E (Fig. 1). The Perm- Permian gastropods from Thailand. Grant (1976) studied ian limestone succession in the study area is part of the Permian brachiopods from South Thailand and mentioned Tak Fa Formation of the Saraburi Group. The Tak Fa For- the presence of platyceratids and pleurotomarioids. Water- mation was named by Nakornsri (1977, 1981) who pub- house (1982) studied an early Permian invertebrate fauna lished a geological map of the Amphoe Ban Mi area. The DOI 10.3140/bull.geosci.1617 481 Bulletin of Geosciences Vol. 91, 3, 2016 Figure 1. Geological map and locality of the studied section that pro- Tak Fa Formation comprises limestone interbedded with duced the silicified gastropods at Khao Noi hill, Takhli district, Nakhon argillaceous limestone, mudstone and dolostone. Parts Sawan province, North Thailand. of the limestone succession yield chert nodules and are fossiliferous. The invertebrate fossils in this formation comprise fusulinids, corals, brachiopods, gastropods, bryozoans and others. The Tak Fa Formation is the part of Khao Khwang plat- form (Wielchowsky & Young 1985, Ueno & Charoen- titirat 2011) located at the western margin of the Indochina Terrane (Metcalfe & Sone 2008). Fusulinids indicate a Yakhtashian or Artinskian (late Early Permian) to Midian or Capitanian (late Middle Permian) age for the fusuli- noidean limestones of the Tak Fa Limestone in the East of the Nakhon Sawan province (Napradit 2005). In the stud- ied section yielding the gastropods, the Tak Fa Limestone has a Wordian age. The exposed section of fossiliferous limestones of the Tak Fa Formation yielding the studied gastropods has a thickness of approximately 35 meters. It consists of thick to very thick-bedded, light grey (lower part) to dark grey (up- Figure 2. The fossiliferous limestone (middle layer) from which the per part) limestones. The beds dip with 30° to the West. studied samples were collected. The lower part of the section is dominated by thick-bedded 482 Chatchalerm Ketwetsuriya et al. Permian gastropods from the Tak Fa Limestone, Nakhon Sawan, Northern Thailand Figure 3. Limestone block as an example for preservation; si- licified shell material weathered out from a grey, micritic lime- stone; width ca 15 cm. packstones. Fusulinids, rugose corals, bryozoans, crinoid Biota in the studied samples stems and gastropods are commonly found (only few sam- ples were collected from this bed). The middle part of the Most of the samples that were dissolved were very fossi- sections consists of thick-bedded wackestones. The upper liferous and produced abundant silicified fossils. How- part of the section is composed of very thick-bedded, grey ever, most of the fossil material consists of unidentifi- to dark-grey packstones with black chert nodules at the able shell fragments. Remains of calcareous algae such base and locally interbedded with laminated dark-grey as codiaceaens (Fig. 4A) and the dasycladacean Mitzia shale (Fig. 2). Most of the studied samples were collected sp. (Fig. 4B) were abundant in some of the from the upper beds. In these beds, gastropods and gastropod-rich samples. Silicified fusulinids are abun- fusulinids are abundant. Silicified gastropods weather out dant in most of the samples (Fig. 4C) and thin-sections from the rock (Figs 2, 3). In the field, colonial and solitary showed that fusulinids are present in rock-forming quan- rugose corals, brachiopods, crinoid stems and sponges tities. The presence of these algae and foraminiferans could be observed. suggest a tropical shallow water environment. The sam- ples also yielded rather large sclerites probably deriving from sponges (Fig. 4D, E). Among other invertebrates, Materials and methods gastropods are by far the most diverse and abundant group. They are commonly fragmented but more or less Samples were preferentially taken where silicified gas- complete specimens are also present. The strong domi- tropods weathered out from the rock. The samples yield- nance of gastropods is remarkable but it must be taken ing the silicified fauna were collected by the first author into account that gastropod-rich rocks were sampled pre- in 2010, 2013 and 2015. They were dissolved in formic ferentially in the field. The samples also yielded few acid at the Bayerische Staatssammlung für Paläontolo- small articulate brachiopods (Fig 4F, left), scaphopods gie und Geologie in Munich, Germany. Most samples (Fig. 4F, right), polyplacophoran plates (Fig. 4G), small came from two stratigraphic layers at the north of an iso- nuculoid bivalves (Fig. 4H, I) and other bivalves lated hill (Fig. 1). After etching, the material was sieved (Fig. 4J, K). The few present brachiopods and bivalves under rinsing water at a mesh size of 0.5 mm. All fossils have commonly attached valves indicating that the fauna including the gastropods were picked from the washed is basically autochthonous and not transported. residues. Gastropods were sorted according to species A quantitative census of the fossils in the studied and samples. Representatives of each gastropod species samples is difficult because of the high degree of frag- and some other species were whitened with mentation and the problematic preservation of many of ammonium-chloride and documented with micropho- the fossils. However, it seems clear that the fauna is very tography diverse with a low dominance. A comprehensive study 483 Bulletin of Geosciences Vol. 91, 3, 2016 on the diversity of the Tak Fa fauna will be attempted at a SNSB-BSPG 2014 XI. Some of the paratypes are housed in later point. the Chulalongkorn University, Museum of Zoology, Bang- kok, Thailand (CUMZ). General remarks on the gastropod fauna Systematic palaeontology As mentioned, except for fusulinids, gastropods are the by Alexander Nützel & Chatchalerm most abundant and diverse group in the present collec- Ketwetsuriya tion from the Tak Fa Limestone. According to the present genera, it is a typical Late Palaeozoic gastropod fauna en- The classification used