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Emsian (Lower Devonian) conodonts from the Lufengshan section (Guangxi, South China)

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Abstract

The Lufengshan section (Guangxi, South China) is one of the best representative sections of the Xiangzhou facies (benthic facies), from which a few Emsian conodont studies have been accomplished in the past. In this paper, we present conodonts from the Upper Member of the Ertang Formation at the Lufengshan section. The conodont fauna is characterised by a distinctly low diversity with only six species reported and is assigned to the nothoperbonus Zone. ‘Ozarkodina’? chenae, ‘O.’? wuxuanensis and Polygnathus praeinversus are newly described species herein. A comparison of the contemporaneous conodont faunas between the Lufengshan, Liujing and Daliantang sections indicates that the conodont biodiversity during the time of the nothoperbonus Zone in South China is mainly bathymetrically controlled. Moreover, P. praeinversus, which was previously thought to be transitional between P. inversus and P. serotinus, is interpreted to represent an intermediate form between P. nothoperbonus and P. inversus on the basis of stratigraphical and morphological analyses. The outline of the basal cavity of this new polygnathid species better documents the evolutionary process of the inversion of the basal cavity of Polygnathus: the basal cavity in the middle part of the platform starts to invert on the inner side at first, whereas the flat or slightly elevated outer flank of basal cavity is laterally extended to form a shelf-like protuberance on the outer side of the pit.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Chanming Yu and Wenkun Qie (Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology) and Jiangsi Liu (China University of Geosciences, Wuhan) for their assistances in the field. Thomas J. Suttner and an anonymous reviewer read critically this paper and provided many important suggestions and comments from which we have profited largely. This research is financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41702009, 41290260 and 41530103) and State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy (Y721053109 and Y726040107). J.C. Liao was supported by the Juan de la Cierva Program.

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  1. Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 39 East Beijing Road, Nanjing, 210008, People’s Republic of China

    Jianfeng Lu, Chengyuan Wang & Yi Wang

  2. Department of Botany and Geology, University of Valencia, 50 c/Dr. Moliner, E-46100, Burjassot, Spain

    Jianfeng Lu, José Ignacio Valenzuela-Ríos & Jau-Chyn Liao

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  1. Jianfeng Lu
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This article is a contribution to the special issue “Devonian palaeoecosystems and palaeoenvironments of South China”

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Lu, J., Valenzuela-Ríos, J.I., Wang, C. et al. Emsian (Lower Devonian) conodonts from the Lufengshan section (Guangxi, South China). Palaeobio Palaeoenv 99, 45–62 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12549-018-0325-4

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