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Tentaculitids and their evolutionary significance in the Early Devonian Dashatian section, South China

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Abstract

Tentaculitoids have long been recognised as an enigmatic group of marine invertebrates that are widely distributed and highly diversified in the Silurian and Devonian strata. A tentaculitid assemblage is described herein from the Nagaoling Formation spanning the Lochkovian–Pragian boundary in Nanning, South China. Six new species are recognised: Tentaculitesbrevitenui n. sp., Lonchidium cylicus n. sp., Bicingulites nanningensis n. sp., Odessites aurisites n. sp., O. nahongensis n. sp. and Volynites nagaolingensis n. sp. are diagnosed. Two species Podolites sp. and Seretites sp. and one population Uniconus spp. are described in open nomenclature. All above tentaculitid genera can be detected in the Silurian strata from Sweden. The tentaculitids from South China allow transitional skeletal characters between benthic and planktonic tentaculitoids to be described, including conch size, conch wall thickness, septum number and the relationship between external and internal wall sculptures. The fossil assemblage, sedimentary rocks and taphonomic characters indicate that tentaculitids of Nagaoling Formation in South China were deposited in an outer shelf region with weak hydrodynamic condition.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the two reviewers (Eberhard Schindler and an anonymous reviewer) and editors, Peter Koenigshof and Sinje Weber, for their thoughtful and helpful suggestions that improved this article. We are also grateful to Qie Wenkun, Lu Jianfeng and Yang Zhen for their continuous help in preparing the manuscript. We would like to express our sincere thanks to Han Fei, Zeng Guangchun and Liang Jiang for their warm-hearted assistance with the field work.

Funding

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41502016), State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy (Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, CAS) (Grant No. 143111), Yunnan Key Laboratory for Palaeobiology, Yunnan University (Grant No. 2015DG007-ZZ02) and Science & Technology Department of Yunnan Province (Grant No. 2014FD005).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. MEC International Joint Laboratory for Palaeobiology and Palaeoenvironment, Yunnan University, Kunming, 650091, China

    Fan Wei

  2. Yunnan Key Laboratory for Palaeobiology, Yunnan University, Kunming, 650091, China

    Fan Wei

  3. State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, CAS, Nanjing, 210008, China

    Fan Wei

  4. State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, 430074, China

    Ruiwen Zong & Yiming Gong

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

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Wei, F., Zong, R. & Gong, Y. Tentaculitids and their evolutionary significance in the Early Devonian Dashatian section, South China. Palaeobio Palaeoenv 99, 7–28 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12549-018-0367-7

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