Skip to content Skip to navigation

Article: Spore assemblages from the Lower Devonian Xujiachong Formation from Qujing, Yunnan, China

Publication: Palaeontology
Volume: 55
Part: 3
Publication Date: May 2012
Page(s): 583 611
Author(s): Charles H. Wellman, Huaicheng Zhu, John E. A. Marshall, Yi Wang, Christopher M. Berry and Honghe Xu
Addition Information

How to Cite

WELLMAN, C. H., ZHU, H., MARSHALL, J. E. A., WANG, Y., BERRY, C. M., XU, H. 2012. Spore assemblages from the Lower Devonian Xujiachong Formation from Qujing, Yunnan, China. Palaeontology55, 3, 583–611.

Online Version Hosted By

Wiley Online Library
Get Article: Wiley Online Library [Pay-to-View Access] |

Abstract

The Lower Devonian Xujiachong Formation from the vicinity of Qujing City, Yunnan, China is interpreted as a terrestrial-fluviatile-lacustrine sequence. It contains important nonmarine biotas including plants, fish and invertebrates. The plants are particularly interesting as they include many endemic taxa. Dispersed spore assemblages have been recovered from the upper part of this formation. The spores are well preserved and of moderate thermal maturity. They are systematically described and four new species erected: Aneurospora xujiachongensis sp. nov., Chelinospora ouyangii sp. nov., Camptozonotriletes? luii sp. nov. and Leiozonospora xichongensis sp. nov. One new combination is proposed: Aneurospora conica (Ouyang and Lu) comb. nov. This is a rare report of a Lower Devonian dispersed spore assemblage from the South China Plate. Indeed, few dispersed spore assemblages of this age are known outside of Euramerica and Northern Gondwana. It is suggested that the Xujiachong Formation spore assemblages can all be equated to the polygonalis-emsiensis Spore Assemblages Biozone (PE SAB) of Richardson and McGregor (1986) indicating an early (but not earliest) Pragian to ?earliest Emsian age. However, caution is urged, because biostratigraphical interpretation is difficult owing to distinct differences between dispersed spore assemblages from South China and Euramerica/Northern Gondwana. This almost certainly reflects palaeophytogeographical variation and regional endemism among early land plant floras on widely separated land masses. Palynofacies analysis supports a nonmarine origin for the deposits of the Xujiachong Formation, with the very rare marine palynomorphs that were encountered interpreted as reworked.
PalAss Go! URL: http://go.palass.org/5jd | Twitter: Share on Twitter | Facebook: Share on Facebook | Google+: Share on Google+