Jun-ichi Tazawa

UPPERMOST MISSISSIPPIAN BRACHIOPODS FROM THE BASAL ITAITUBA FORMATION OF THE AMAZON BASIN, BRAZIL

Abstract This paper describes 19 brachiopod species (including six indeterminate species) in 15 genera and one indeterminate genus from the basal Itaituba Formation at the Caima Quarry 1 section of Itaituba, Amazon Basin, Brazil. The faunal correlations of the brachiopods and the associated fusulinids and conodonts indicate a late Chesterian (late Serpukhovian) age for the described fauna, therefore confirming for the first time the presence of uppermost Mississippian rocks in the Amazon Basin. A new species, Composita caimaensis, is created, and two species, Inflatia cf. gracilis and Marginovatia cf. catinulus, are described for the first time from the Amazon Basin. The Amazon brachiopods appear to be of strong affinity with coeval faunas of the North American midcontinent.

Permian brachiopods from the Mizukoshi Formation, central Kyushu, SW Japan: Systematics, palaeobiogeography and tectonic implications

ABSTRACT This study describes a brachiopod fauna, consisting of 22 species in 19 genera, from the Upper Permian (Lopingian) Mizukoshi Formation in the Mizukoshi area of central Kyushu, southwest Japan. The fauna includes three new species: Anidanthus mizukoshiensis, Terrakea yanagidai and Rhynchopora matsumotoi. The Mizukoshi fauna is a Boreal-Tethyan mixed fauna allied with the Middle Permian brachiopod faunas of central Japan (Hida Gaien Belt), northeast Japan (South Kitakami Belt) and eastern Russia (South Primorye). Palaeobiogeographical data on the Mizukoshi fauna suggest that during the Middle-Late Permian the Mizukoshi area was located between the Hida Gaien region to the north and the South Kitakami region to the south, bordering the eastern margin of North China (Sino-Korea). This conclusion supports a strikeslip model that describes largescale sinistral strikeslip movement along the Tanakura Tectonic Line (TTL)-Median Tectonic Line (MTL) from the Early Cretaceous to Palaeogene.

Brachiopods from the Upper Permian Tsunemori Formation of the Akiyoshi Area, Southwest Japan, and Their Tectonic Implications

Abstract. This study describes a brachiopod fauna, consisting of 15 species in 15 genera, from the Upper Permian Tsunemori Formation of the Akiyoshi area, southwest Japan. The fauna includes a new species, Cathayspirina magna. The Tsunemori fauna is a Boreal-Tethyan mixed fauna and is closely allied with the Late Permian (Changhsingian) brachiopod faunas of Nabekoshiyama in the South Kitakami Belt, northeast Japan, and of Kawahigashi in the Maizuru Belt, southwest Japan. Palaeobiogeographical data derived from the Tsunemori fauna suggest that the Late Permian accretion site of the Akiyoshi Terrane, including the Tsunemori Formation, was located within a trench along the eastern margin of North China (Sino-Korea).

A Kungurian (Early Permian) Panthalassan Brachiopod Fauna from Hatahoko in the Mino Belt, Central Japan

Abstract Twelve brachiopod species are described from the Cisuralian (Early Permian) Kungurian horizon of a large limestone block in the Middle Jurassic accretionary complex at Hatahoko in the Mino Belt, central Japan. Most species of the Hatahoko fauna are known from the Kungurian to lowest Guadalupian (Middle Permian) of West Texas, U.S.A. The Kungurian age is also indicated by the associated conodonts in the same limestone block. The Hatahoko brachiopod fauna, as well as some other previously-reported Guadalupian brachiopod faunas, exhibits a very strong paleobiogeographical affinity with the faunas in West Texas, U.S.A. Therefore it can be interpreted as a fauna which inhabited reef-seamount complexes close to North America in the mid-equatorial region of the Panthalassa in the late Early Permian, rifted westwards thousands of kilometers, and finally accreted onto the Japanese Island when the Western Pacific Plate subducted beneath the Eurasian Plate during the Jurassic.

The Marginatia-Syringothyris-Rotaia brachiopod assemblage from the Lower Carboniferous of the South Kitakami Belt, northeast Japan, and its palaeobiogeographical implications

ABSTRACT Three brachiopod species, Marginatia burlingtonensis (Hall), Syringothyris transversa Minato and Rotaia hikoroichiensis sp. nov., are described from the Lower Carboniferous (Lower Visean) of the Shimoarisu, Yokota and Hikoroichi areas in the South Kitakami Belt (southern Kitakami Mountains), northeast Japan. The Marginatia-Syringothyris-Rotaia assemblage from the South Kitakami Belt indicates a palaeobiogeographical similarity between the South Kitakami Belt and the north Xinjiang-Inner Mongolia-Jilin region, i.e., the North China Province of S. Yang (1980) in Early Carboniferous time. Furthermore, the rugose corals Sugiyamaella, Yuanophyllum and Kueichouphyllum from the Lower Carboniferous (Upper Visean) of the South Kitakami Belt are strong evidence of a close connection between this region and the southern part of the North China Province, i.e., the Tianshan-Jilin Province of F. Yang (1994). These palaeobiogeographical data suggest that the South Kitakami region was the eastern extension of the Tianshan-Jilin Province, and located at the continental shelf bordering the eastern margin of North China (Sino-Korea) in the Early Carboniferous.

Two species of Permophricodothyris (Reticularioidea, Brachiopoda) from the middle Permian, South Kitakami Belt, Japan

Abstract. We describe two species of reticularioid spiriferid brachiopod, Permophricodothyris grandis (Chao) and Permophricodothyris squamularioides (Huang), from the lower part of the Kamiyasse Formation (Wordian), Kamiyasse—Imo area, South Kitakami Belt, northeastern Japan. Permophricodothyris is known from the middle to upper Permian of the Tethyan region, especially from the upper Permian of South China. The two species from the Kamiyasse—Imo area are representative Tethyan elements of the middle Permian brachiopod fauna of the South Kitakami Belt.

Pararigbyella and Dicystoconcha (Lyttoniidina, Brachiopoda) from the middle Permian (Wordian) of Japan

Abstract. Permianellids are a specialized fossil group of Brachiopoda characterized by a complicated forking lobe system. In this paper, we report two permianellid species (Pararigbyella doulingensis Shen and Zhang, 2008 and Dicystoconcha lapparenti Termier and Termier in Termier et al., 1974), from the middle Guadalupian (Wordian, middle Permian) of the Kamiyasse-Imo area, South Kitakami Belt, Northeast Japan, of which Pararigbyella doulingensis is the first record in Japan. A global review of all occurrences of the two genera suggests that Pararigbyella is restricted to the Cathaysian Province, while Dicystoconcha is mainly distributed in the Paleotethyan region and the two transitional zones between the Boreal or Gondwanan and Paleotethyan realms.

Cooperina (Productida, Brachiopoda) from the Lower Permian of Japan

Cooperina is a minute, very distinctive productid brachiopod belonging to the Family Cooperinidae Pajaud, 1968. This genus was established by Termier et al. (1966) with Cooperina inexpectata Termier, Termier and Pajaud, 1966, from the Word Formation of the Glass Mountains, West Texas, USA, as type species. At that time, Termier et al. considered the genus as a possible ancestor of the Triassic–Recent thecideid brachiopods (Superfamily Thecideoidea Gray, 1840, Order Thecideida Elliott, 1958). Later, Cooper and Grant (1969, 1975) considered Cooperina as a genus of the Superfamily Aulostegacea Muir-Wood and Cooper, 1960, Suborder Productidina Waagen, 1883, based on well preserved material from the lower to middle Permian of West Texas. More recently, Waterhouse (2002) grouped Cooperina into the Superfamily Cooperinoidea Pajaud, 1968 within the Suborder Productidina. Five species of Cooperina have thus far been described from the lower to middle Permian of the United States, Venezuela and Thailand: Cooperina inexpectata, from the Wordian of West Texas (Termier et al., 1966; Pajaud, 1968; Cooper and Grant, 1975) and from the Roadian to Wordian of Venezuela (Hoover, 1981); Cooperina parva Cooper and Grant, 1975, from the upper Wolfcampian to the uppermost Leonardian of West Texas (Cooper and Grant, 1975); Cooperina subcuneata Cooper and Grant, 1975, from the uppermost Leonardian of West Texas; Cooperina triangulata Cooper and Grant, 1975, from the lower Wolfcampian of West Texas; and Cooperina polytreta Grant, 1976, from the upper Kungurian–Roadian Ratburi Limestone of southern Thailand. This paper presents the first description of Cooperina from Japan. The specimens, described here as C. inexpectata and Cooperina nipponica sp. nov., were collected by the second (Y. M.) and third (Y. O.) authors from the lower part of the Nabeyama Formation (Parafusulina yabei Zone, Kungurian) of Yamasuge (Loc. KY4 of Tazawa et al., 2012), Kuzu area, Ashio Mountains, central Japan (Fig. 1). The material was prepared by separating the silicified fossils from some limestone blocks by using formic acid (3–4%). The occurrence of Cooperina from the Kuzu area supports the Permian palaeogeography of the Yamasuge fauna as described by Tazawa et al. (2010, 2012), who suggested that the Nabeyama Formation was deposited in an equatorial region of Panthalassa during the early Permian (Kungurian), proximal to what is now West Texas. All of the specimens described below are registered with the prefix KFM and housed in the Kuzu Fossil Museum, Kuzu, Sano City, Tochigi Prefecture, central Japan.

Late Permian (Wuchiapingian) Brachiopod Fauna from Okutadami, Central Japan: Systematics, Palaeobiogeography and Tectonic Implications

Abstract. This study describes a brachiopod fauna, consisting of 12 species in 10 genera, from the Upper Permian (Wuchiapingian) Otori Formation of Okutadami, Joetsu Belt, Central Japan. The fauna includes a new species, Kochiproductus okutadamiensis. The Okutadami fauna, a Boreal fauna lacking Tethyan or Panthalassan elements, is the northernmost fauna of the Japanese Permian. Palaeobiogeographical data derived from the Okutadami fauna suggest that Okutadami was located at the northernmost area of Proto-Japan in the Late Permian. This conclusion supports a strike-slip tectonic model that describes large-scale sinistral strike-slip movement along the Tanakura Tectonic Line (TTL)-Median Tectonic Line (MTL) from the late Early Cretaceous to Palaeogene.

A new large chonetid (Brachiopoda) from the Middle Permian of the southern Kitakami Mountains, northeast Japan

A new chonetid genus and species, Kitakamichonetes multicapillatus gen. et sp. nov. (subfamily Chalimochonetinae, family Rugosochonetidae), from the Middle Permian (Wordian-Capitanian, Kanokura Formation) of the southern Kitakami Mountains (northeast Japan) is described.