A new Changhsingian (Late Permian) brachiopod fauna from the Zhongzhai section (South China), Part 2: Lingulida, Orthida, Orthotetida and Spiriferida

Zhang, Y., Shi, G.R., He, W.-H., Zhang, K.-X. & Wu, H.-T., XX.XX.2014. A new Changhsingian (Late Permian) brachiopod fauna from the Zhongzhai section (South China), Part 2: Lingulida, Orthida, Orthotetida and Spiriferida. Alcheringa 38, 480-503. ISSN 0311-5518This is the second of a three-part systematic study documenting, for the first time, an exceptionally well-preserved and diverse brachiopod fauna of latest Changhsingian age (age constrained by conodont biostratigraphy, carbon isotopes and geochronology) from a unique shallow-marine clastic shelf Permian-Triassic boundary (PTB) section at Zhongzhai in southwestern China. This paper focuses specifically on brachiopods from the Lingulida, Orthida, Orthotetida and Spiriferida orders, which are represented by 13 established species, a new species (Orbiculoidea liaoi), two comparative species and three undetermined species. Additionally, morphological features and diagnoses of several key brachiopod genera, such as Orbiculoidea, Acosarina, Prelissorhynchia, Araxathyris and Spirigerella, are reviewed, clarified and updated in light of the exceptionally well-preserved material available for this study. In particular, this paper provides the first detailed English descriptions of several endemic South China Orbiculoidea species.