Brachiopods from the upper part of the Mantou Formation (Cambrian, Miaolingian, Wuliuan) in Weifang, Shandong, North China
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Abstract:
The Cambrian brachiopods had high species diversity, remarkable individual abundance, considerable morphological varia-tion and wide geographical distribution, showing the potential in assisting the Cambrian biostratigraphic subdivision and correlation based on trilobites. The North China plate possesses well-developed sedimentary and fossil records of the Cam-brian Miaolingian and has been one of the classic research areas of the Miaolingian in China. A series of previous works have been done on the systematic palaeontology of Cambrian Miaolingian Wuliuan brachiopods from North China. However, these relevant studies were mainly concentrated within the Liaoning area. The current research on the Cambrian Miaolingian Wuliuan brachiopods in other parts of North China is limited, and the related biostratigraphy also needs further exploration. In this paper, we systematically describe for the first time the brachiopods from the clastic rocks of the upper part of the Mantou Formation (Cambrian, Miaolingian, Wuliuan) in Weifang, Shandong. A total of four genera and five species of the subphylum Linguliformea were identified, including Lingulellotreta sp. indet. from the Honghe Member of the Mantou Formation, as well as Lingulella shansiensis (Walcott, 1905), Lingulella damesi (Walcott, 1905), Acrothele eryx (Walcott, 1905) and Prototreta orientalis (Resser and Endo, 1937) from the Upper Shale Member of the Mantou Formation. It is worth noting that there are four brachiopods species in three layers of slightly lithologically different mudstones in the Upper Shale Member of the Mantou Formation, but all the three assemblages fall within the Bailiella lantenoisi Zone, which is a single trilobite biozone. The rapid alternation of brachiopod assemblages in a very short period indicates that brachiopods might have a strong response to weak changes in environmental background.
