Brachiopod assemblages from the Upper Permian and Permian–Triassic boundary beds, South China

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Abstract
Uppermost Permian (Changhsingian) brachiopods are abundant and diverse in south China; 60 genera and 130 spp. have been described from the Changhsing Formation. Two distinctive brachiopod faunas can readily be identified from a single Changhsingian zone, the Peltichia zigzag-Paryphella sulcatifera Assemblage Zone. The abundance and diversity of the faunas are controlled to a large degree by lithofacies. The Peltichia zigzag, Spinomarginifera alpha fauna occurs in a limestone facies and the Paryphella sulcatifera, Paracrurithyris pigmea fauna occurs in a clastic (siliceous) facies. At many locations in South China, a mixed fauna, containing Permian-like brachiopods and Lower Triassic ammonoids and bivalves, occurs directly above the Permian-Triassic boundary. The association of Permian elements mixed with Triassic elements suggests that deposition was more or less continuous across the Permian-Triassic boundary and that an unconformity does not occur at the boundary in much of South China.