Trilobites from the Silurian “Lower Red Beds” of Wuhan,South China: stratigraphic and paleogeographic implications

The age of the Silurian “Lower Red Beds” (LRBs), which occur widely in South China, has long been controversial because of the scarcity of index fossils. Here, we report a fauna with abundant trilobites from the LRBs in Wuhan, Middle Yangtze region, consisting of Aulacopleura (Paraaulacopleura) pijiazhaiensis, ‘Encrinuroides’ yichangensis, Gaotania hubeiensis, Hyrokybe gaotanensis, Japonoscutellum yichangense, Latiproetus latilimbatus, and Ptilillaenus lojopingensis. These trilobites are common in the Leijiatun, upper Xiangshuyuan, Shihniulan, and Lojoping formations in the Upper Yangtze region, and belong to the middle to upper Aeronian Ptilillaenus or ‘Encrinuroides’–Ptilillaenus–Latiproetus assemblages. The discovery of this trilobite assemblage suggests that the LRBs are probably partly of middle–late Aeronian age in the Middle Yangtze region. Thus, the lower boundary of the LRBs is likely diachronous in the Yangtze region, ranging from the middle–late Aeronian to the early Telychian. The discovery of the Ptilillaenus assemblage in the Wuhan LRBs expands the paleogeographic distribution of this assemblage and provides evidence of deeper depositional environment of the LRBs in the study area versus shallow waters in other areas of the Yangtze region.     

贵州湄潭志留纪初期三叶虫动物群及其意义*

志留纪兰多维列世(Llandovery)鲁丹期(Rhuddanian)是奥陶纪末生物大灭绝后的残存期和复苏期。志留纪初期冈瓦纳大陆边缘壳相地层稀少,多数地区为沉积间断或笔石相地层,研究底栖壳相生物残存-复苏期的宏演化普遍缺乏理想材料,而华南上扬子区贵州湄潭地区发育了志留纪早期的壳相地层,即五里坡层(鲁丹阶中部)和牛场组(鲁丹阶上部),为探索这一关键地史时期三叶虫动物群宏演化型式及其背景机制提供了依据。贵州湄潭岩坪剖面和高江剖面的五里坡层和牛场组共发现三叶虫7目11科15属(含亚属)17种(含1新种、3未定种),根据其属级分类单元的时空分布规律,将这些三叶虫识别为5种宏演化类型:即减缩幸存型、扩增幸存型、复活幸存型、新生型和死支漫步型。不同类型的属级分类单元在大灭绝中具有不同的宏演化型式,体现出其应对灾变而采取的不同的生存策略。减缩幸存型和复活幸存型是大灭绝后生态系统复苏和再次辐射的主要源泉,它们的发展在一定程度上影响着整个生态系统的宏演化进程;新生型的出现则标志着大灭绝后环境的实质性改善,三叶虫的全面复苏也随之到来。     

Early Silurian (Rhuddanian) rugose corals and sponges from the Ak-Kerme Peninsula,Kazakhstan

An assemblage of earliest Silurian (Llandovery, Rhuddanian) fossils from South Kazakhstan (Ak-Kerme Peninsula, Lake Balkhash) contains solitary rugose corals (Calostylis denticulata, Streptelasma? sp., and Cystipaliphyllum sp.) and the demosponge Calycocoelia typicalis, which are described here. This assemblage occurs with previously described brachiopods and constitutes a post extinction survival fauna; such faunas are poorly known and this study fills a gap in our knowledge. All three genera of Rugosa were transitional across the Ordovician–Silurian boundary and are also reported from other parts of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan during the Llandovery. Streptelasma had already been present in Kazakhstan during the Ordovician, while during the Rhuddanian Calostylis immigrated from Baltica or China, and Cystipaliphyllum from the Australian part of Gondwana. Demosponges are rare during the Llandovery but probably had a cosmopolitan distribution. Calycocoelia typicalis marks the first Rhuddanian record of lithistid demosponges, and the first record of Silurian demosponges from Kazakhstan.     

Conodonts from the Global Stratotype section for the base of the Guzhangian Stage (Cambrian) at Luoyixi,Hunan, South China

The base of the Guzhangian Stage (Cambrian) has been ratified recently at the lowest occurrence of the cosmopolitan agnostoid trilobite Lejopyge laevigata (base of the Lejopyge laevigata Zone) in the Huaqiao Formation in the Luoyixi section, Guzhang County, Hunan Province, China.Sampling of the Luoyixi section in the boundary interval reveals 16 protoconodont and paraconodont taxa. The conodont succession can be correlated with the Gapparodus bisulcatus-Westergaardodina brevidens and the Shandongodus priscus-Hunanognathus tricuspidatus zones of South China and with the Laiwugnathus laiwuensis and the Shandongodus priscus zones of North China. Laiwugnathus laiwuensis occurs immediately below the lowest occurrence of Lejopyge laevigata. The first occurrence of Shandongodus priscus is 14.95 m above the base of the Lejopyge laevigata Zone. A significant change in the conodont associations occurs in the interval corresponding to the uppermost Lejopyge armata trilobite Zone. This interval is characterized by an increase in diversity with the appearance of the paracondont genera Furnishina and Laiwugnathus. Laiwugnathus laiwuensis, which occurs immediately below the lowest occurrence of Lejopyge laevigata, has a short stratigraphic record and allows confident correlation with North China.     

GRIESBACHIAN AND DIENERIAN (EARLY TRIASSIC) AMMONOID FAUNAS FROM NORTHWESTERN GUANGXI AND SOUTHERN GUIZHOU (SOUTH CHINA)

Abstract: Intensive sampling of the Luolou (northwestern Guangxi) and the Daye (southern Guizhou) Formations in South China leads to the recognition of a regional Griesbachian and Dienerian ammonoid succession for this key palaeobiogeographical area. The new biostratigraphical sequence comprises the upper Griesbachian ‘Ophiceras beds’ and the lower Dienerian ‘Proptychites candidus beds’, which are separated from the uppermost Dienerian ‘Clypites beds’ by an unfossiliferous interval. These faunas contain some taxa with wide geographic distribution (e.g. Ambites, Pleurambites, Pleurogyronites, Proptychites candidus), thus facilitating correlation with faunal successions from other regions (i.e. British Columbia, Canadian Arctic, Himalayas and South Primorye). Two new genera (Jieshaniceras and Shangganites) and three new species (Anotoceras subtabulatus, Pleurambites radiatus and Shangganites shangganense) are described.     

A new late Katian (Late Ordovician) trilobite association from Zhenxiong,northeastern Yunnan,Southwest China and its palaeoecological implications

A new late Katian (Late Ordovician) trilobite association is documented from the Daduhe Formation in Zhenxiong, northeastern Yunnan, including 17 species of 15 genera, among which four species (Malongullia sinensis, M. zhenxiongensis, Taklamakania paucisegmentatus and Amphitryon constrictus) are new. Lithologic and faunal evidence enables the recognition of a new association with medium diversity, named the Taklamakania Association. It is a typical representative of the Raphiophorid Community that lived in a deep subtidal environment close to the anoxic basin. A total of five trilobite ecological associations were found to occur in South China during the late Katian, in relation to the environmental gradients ranging from shallow subtidal zone, deep subtidal zone, slope to dysoxic shaly basin.     

A new oryctocephalid trilobite from the Balang Formation (Cambrian Stage 4) of northwestern Hunan,South China,with remarks on the classification of oryctocephalids

A new trilobite, Longaspis paiwuensis n. gen. n. sp., from the Balang Formation (Cambrian Stage 4) in northwestern Hunan, South China, is described. This rare trilobite adds to an expanding taxonomic list of organisms recognized from the Balang Lagerstätte, a deposit of exceptional preservation from the Cambrian. Longaspis paiwuensis is an unusually large-sized, micropygous oryctocephalid trilobite that has proparian facial sutures, pit-like lateral glabellar furrows, up to 17 thoracic segments, and a distinct medial notch in the pygidium; it lacks marginal spines.The classification of the family Oryctocephalidae is reviewed. Three subfamilies are recognized, and Longaspis n. gen. is assigned to the subfamily Oryctocarinae.     

Early Devonian (Lochkovian) trilobites and brachiopods from the west Balkhash Region,Kazakhstan and their significance for regional terrane dynamics

A moderately diverse Early Devonian (Lochkovian) trilobite and brachiopod association has been recovered from the lower part of the volcano-sedimentary Shakshagaily Formation, exposed on the western side of Lake Balkhash in central Kazakhstan. Its discovery demonstrates the presence of Lower Devonian marine deposits in the region. The trilobite assemblage includes representatives of six genera: the dalmanitid Kasachstania alperovichi nov. sp. is the dominant taxon, with other components being Ananaspis?, Leonaspis?, Maurotarion, Trimerus (Edgillia), and Warburgella. Associated brachiopods include species of Glossoleptaena, Leptaena, Protolepstostrophia, Pseudostrophochonetes, and Resserella. Whilst a significant proportion of these taxa show distinct links with the contemporaneous trilobite and brachiopod faunas of the north Balkhash Region, the occurrence of Trimerus (Edgillia) aff. kinglakensis Gill, 1949 suggests a possible link with the Lochkovian trilobite fauna of the Australasian sector of Gondwana. The west Balkhash Region preserves an extensive record of late Silurian to Early Devonian island arc volcanism, slope-rise sedimentation and olistostrome formation, which has invariably been ignored in models favouring early amalgamation of the Kazakhstanian terranes into a single continent by the end of the Ordovician.     

Proetid trilobites from the middle Telychian (Llandovery,Silurian) Ningqiang Formation,Shaanxi, China

Four proetid trilobite species, Chuanqianoproetus guizhouensis Yin in Yin and Li, 1978, C. shuangheensis Wu, 1977, C. sp., and Latiproetus guizhouensis Yin in Yin and Li, 1978, are described from the Ningqiang Formation in Ningqiang County, Shaanxi, China. They are middle Telychian (Llandovery, Silurian) in age. Chuanqianoproetus and Latiproetus are both regarded as members of the subfamily Warburgellinae; the former has been considered to be a junior subjective synonym of Astroproetus, but on the basis of its morphology we argue here that they represent two independent genera. The poorly sorted bioclastic grainstones containing trilobite sclerites may indicate their deposition in turbulent conditions on an open marine platform.     

Can the Lilliput Effect be detected in the brachiopod faunas of South China following the terminal Ordovician mass extinction?

In the immediate aftermath of global extinctions, organisms were normally much smaller than those prior to these events. This ‘Lilliput Effect’ can be subdivided into two types: 1) a specific type, following the original definition of the effect which targets species-level taxa associated with inhospitable environments, and 2) a more general type, related to the reactions of higher-rank taxa above the species-level. The body sizes of brachiopods from South China through the Ordovician and Silurian transition (Late Katian, Hirnantian, and earliest Rhuddanian) are compared at generic, superfamilial, ordinal, and class levels. The results indicate that the body sizes of the taxa of lower rank (e.g. genus-level) are highly variable within these different intervals. The type of evidence for the Lilliput Effect through the end Ordovician mass extinction is thus quite different from that of the end Permian mass extinction probably reflecting differences in the intensity of these two major bioevents. However, the relationships between the contrasting trends in body-size change of some taxa of higher rank (e.g. at the ordinal-level) and the relative dominance of these taxa in the latest Ordovician and earliest Silurian suggest that the brachiopods of the two major Ordovician groups, the strophomenoids and orthoids, adopted different survival strategies during and immediately after the crisis from those of the pentamerides and rhynchonellides, that were common in Silurian assemblages.     

New crinoids from the Baltic region (Estonia): fossil tip‐dating phylogenetics constrains the origin and Ordovician–Silurian diversification of the Flexibilia (Echinodermata)

This study documents previously unknown taxonomic and morphological diversity among early Palaeozoic crinoids. Based on highly complete, well preserved crown material, we describe two new genera from the Ordovician and Silurian of the Baltic region (Estonia) that provide insight into two major features of the geological history of crinoids: the early evolution of the flexible clade during the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event (GOBE), and their diversification history surrounding the end‐Ordovician mass extinction. The unexpected occurrence of a highly derived sagenocrinid, Tintinnabulicrinus estoniensis gen. et. sp. nov., from Upper Ordovician (lower Katian) rocks of the Baltic palaeocontinent provides high‐resolution temporal, taxonomic and palaeobiogeographical constraints on the origin and early evolution of the Flexibilia. The Silurian (lower Rhuddanian, Llandovery) Paerticrinus arvosus gen. et sp. nov. is the oldest known Silurian crinoid from Baltica and thus provides the earliest Baltic record of crinoids following the aftermath of the end‐Ordovician mass extinction. A Bayesian ‘fossil tip‐dating’ analysis implementing the fossilized birth–death process and a relaxed morphological clock model suggests that flexibles evolved c. 3 million years prior to their oldest fossil record, potentially involving an ancestor–descendant relationship (via ‘budding’ cladogenesis or anagenesis) with the paraphyletic cladid Cupulocrinus. The sagenocrinid subclade rapidly diverged from ‘taxocrinid’ grade crinoids during the final stages of the GOBE, culminating in maximal diversity among Ordovician crinoid faunas on a global scale. Remarkably, diversification patterns indicate little taxonomic turnover among flexibles across the Late Ordovician mass extinction. However, the elimination of closely related clades may have helped pave the way for their subsequent Silurian diversification and increased ecological role in post‐Ordovician Palaeozoic marine communities. This study highlights the significance of studies reporting faunas from undersampled palaeogeographical regions for clade‐based phylogenetic studies and improving estimates of global biodiversity through geological time.     

Thio-sugar motif of functional CARB-pharmacophore for antineoplastic activity. Part 2

Diverse functionalized representatives of (1-4)-S-thiodisaccharides, 6–9 were synthesized and assessed for cytotoxicity and apoptosis against human cancer cell lines (A549, LoVo, MCF-7 and HeLa). The FCP 6 was more active against MCF-7 cells (i.e., an estrogen-dependent breast cancer line), whereas other (1-4)-S-thiodisaccharides showed strongest activity against A549 cells (i.e., a lung adenocarcinoma line). We propose to use a concept of functional ‘CARB-pharmacophores’ when evaluating a potential for the compounds’ general antineoplastic activity. Future studies will determine the reasons for cell-type specificity of these compounds. The thio-sugar motif appears to be a promising lead for future developments.     

Ecology of inland sand dunes “nafuds” as a hyper-arid habitat,Saudi Arabia: Floristic and plant associations diversity

Sand seas of Saudi Arabia cover about one-third of the Arabian Peninsula and are still poorly explored in scientific literature. This study aimed to address the floristic structure and association diversity of the inland sand seas in central Saudi Arabia after 20 years of protection. Twenty-three relevés were selected in Nafud Al-Urayq reserve to cover different sandy dune variations. These relevés are subjected to floristic and multivariate analysis of classification with TWINSPAN and ordination with DECORANA & CANOCO techniques. One hundred thirty-five species belonging to 108 genera in 37 families have been recorded. Annual and perennial species are equally represented. Four vegetation groups (i.e., plant associations) are identified as the following: VG I (Haloxylon salicornicum-Lycium shawii-Acacia raddiana), VG II (Calligonum comosum-Tetraena propinqua), VG III (Haloxylon persicum-Haloxylon salicornicum-Stipagrostis drarii), and VG IV (Pulicaria undulata-Citrullus colocynthis). The association of VG I inhabited in the wadi and non-dune or shallow sand habitat had the high species diversity indices (i.e., total species, species richness, species evenness and Shannon index). In contrast, the association of VG II inhabited hyper-arid and salinized habitat and had low species diversity indices. These associations are discussed and illustrated in accordance with competition and adaptation. The advantages of inland sand dune vegetation therefore apply specifically to habitat management and the conservation of plants. These studies extend the advantages of succession of sand dunes and show that rising vegetative diversity is consistent with the combat of desertification.     

Discovery of a Late Ordovician Foliomena fauna in the Tarim desert,Northwest China

A Foliomena fauna is reported for the first time from the Tarim paleoplate, and stratigraphically from the Yinpingshan Formation (upper Katian, Upper Ordovician) of Querqueke, Kuruktag region, northeastern Tarim, southern Xinjiang, Northwest China. The fauna includes seven species of brachiopods, amongst which three are new and four indeterminate: Anomaloglossa? sp., Orbiculoidea? sp., Foliomena xinjiangensis n. sp., Sericoidea minuta n. sp., Kassinella tarimensis n. sp., Rostricellula? sp., and Anazyga? sp. These species formed a Sericoidea-Kassinella Association, characterized by very small and well-preserved brachiopods, and well-developed laminations in its hosted mudstone, indicating a deep water environment (corresponding to lower BA5 to BA6). The faunal and sedimentological features suggest its affinity to the typical Foliomena faunal group of deep water origin. Numerical analyses show that the Foliomena fauna in late Katian time differentiated into two major paleogeographically related groups, and the Tarim association has a close faunal affinity to the representatives of this fauna in South China, indicating an active faunal exchange between Tarim and South China before the end-Ordovician mass extinction.     

鄂西志留纪早期三叶虫Latiproetus Lu,1962的新材料

本文描述湖北宜昌、兴山志留纪兰多维列世艾隆期蚜头虫类三叶虫Latiproetus latilimbatus(Grabau,1925)和Latiproetus tenuis Chang,1974的新材料.Latiproetus Lu,1962的有效性长期多有争论,通过新材料研究确认,该属和Prantlia P(r)ibyl,1946的区别在于其较短的鞍前区,向前收缩较少的头鞍,较微弱的尾肋沟和间肋沟,并不具鞍前区横脊.该属和Astroproetus Begg,1939的区别在于其较深的S1,清晰的S2,较小的活动颊刺,及宽而清晰的尾边缘.因此,笔者认为Latiproetus应为有效属.     

Reef reconstruction after extinction events of the latest ordovician in the Yangtze platform,South China

Summary Early Silurian reef reconstruction on the Yangtze Platform, in the northern part of the South China Block, is preceded by a combination of regional and global processes. During most of Ashgill time (Late Ordovician), the area was dominated by Wufeng Formation deep water graptolitic black shales. Reefs largely disappeard in the middle of the Ashgill Stage, from the northwestern margin of Cathaysian Land (southeastern South China Block), in advance of the Late Ordovician glaciation and mass extinction, due to regional sea-level changes and regional uplift, unrelated to the mass extinction itselt. Late Ordovician microbial mudmound occurrence is also found in the western margin of the Yangtze Platform, its age corresponding to theDicellograptus complexus graptolite biozone of pre-extinction time. On the Yangtze Platform, a thin, non-reef-bearing carbonate, the Kuanyinchiao Formation (=Nancheng Formation in some sites), thickness generally no more than 1m, occurs near several landmasses as a result of Hirnantian regression. Reappearance of the earliest Silurian carbonates consisting of rare skeletal lenses in the upper part of Lungmachi Formation, are correlated to theacensus graptolite biozone, early Rhuddanian of Shiqian, northeastern Guizhou, near Qianzhong Land. Carbonate sediments gradually developed into beds rich in brachiopods and crinoids in the lower part of Xiangshuyuan Formation, middle Rhuddanian. In the middle part of Xiangshuyan Formation, biostromes, containing abundant and high diversity benthic faunas such as corals, crinoids and brachiopods, show beginnings of reconstruction of reef facies. Substantial reef recovery occurred in the upper part of Xiangshuyuan Formation, lower Aeronian, as small patch reefs and biostromes. During the late Aeronian, carbonate sediments, especially reefs and reef-related facies, expanded on the upper Yangtze Platform, and radiation of reefs occurred in Ningqiang Formation, upper Telychian. The long period of reef recovery, taking several million years, remains difficult to explain, because redistribution of any refugia faunas would be expected to take place soon after the extinction. Reefs and reef-related facies subsequently declined after Telychian time due to regional uplift of the major portion of the Yangtze Platform. Carbonate facies are therefore uncommon in South China during the rest of Silurian time.     

The Cambrian brachiopod fauna from the first-trilobite age Shuijingtuo Formation in the Three Gorges area of China

The Yangtze platform of South China offers evidence within its Ediacaran–Cambrian geological record of the Cambrian explosion and diversification events in metazoan history. To understand the explosive radiation of animals and the environments in which it took place, the basal Cambrian fauna succession of the Aijiahe section in the Three Gorges area, western Hubei Province, has been studied, revealing the earliest brachiopod fauna (Tsunyidiscus trilobite Zone) in this region, which was dominated numerically by acrotretoids. This is accompanied by abundant skeletal fossils including minute well-preserved phosphatized archaeocyath cups and an assortment of abundant sponge spicules, chancelloriids, mollusks, hyoliths, and bradoriids, retrieved by acid-etching limestone interbeds in the black shale-dominated Shuijingtuo Formation (Series 2). The brachiopods comprise two species of acrotretoids, two types of botsfordiids (Botsfordiidae gen. et sp. indet. A and B), and four species of linguloids. Of the latter, Spinobolus popovi n. gen. n. sp. is strikingly distinctive and typified by spine-like ornamentation seen for the first time in the lower Cambrian; the remaining three linguloid genera, Palaeobolus, Eoobolus, and Lingulellotreta, have a trans-paleocontinental distribution. The Three Gorges Shuijingtuo brachiopod assemblage differs from that of the upper Atdabanian Stage (Cambrian Stage 3) in Siberia and South China, but shows great similarities with those discovered in the Tsanglangpuan (equivalent to Botoman or Stage 4) Stage of eastern Yunnan Province, Siberia, and South Australia, suggesting a much more prolonged sedimentary hiatus in basalmost Shuijingtuo Formation of the Three Gorges area than previously expected. The presence of such unconformities provides a caveat to stable isotope-based correlations that involve a number of discussions of global ocean geochemical changes across the time interval that witnessed Cambrian explosion of metazoans.     

A route to recovery: The early Silurian shallow-water shelly fauna in the northern Oslo basin

The shelly fauna of the lowest part of the Sælabonn Formation in the Hadeland district of the Oslo Region provides a rare insight into the shallow-water biota of the earliest Silurian and hence the start of biotic recovery after the end Ordovician extinction event. It is dominated by the brachiopods Dalmanella cf. pectinoides Bergström, Coolinia cf. columbana (Reed), Leptaena cf. haverfordensis Bancroft and Zygospiraella scotica (Salter) together with the trilobite Acernaspis elliptifrons (Esmark). The first three species in this unique association belong to eurytopic Ordovician survivor genera which were also present in the underlying unit in Hadeland and continued to thrive during the Silurian. Significantly, Zygospiraella and Acernaspis have no unequivocal Ordovician record but diversified rapidly and became common during the early Silurian (Rhuddanian) in many parts of the world. Moreover, Acernaspis and Zygospiraella were highly eurytopic, pioneer taxa that were among the first elements of the Rhuddanian shelly fauna to appear in many parts of the world especially around the margins of the remnant Iapetus Ocean, following the drowning of areas previously emergent during the late Ordovician sea-level lowstand. The Hadeland fauna provides evidence of a previously undocumented route (among several) by which life ultimately returned to the global diversity plateau established in the mid-Ordovician.     

Organic-walled microfossils from Cambrian Stage IV in the Jiaobang section,eastern Guizhou,China

The lower Cambrian succession in the Jiaobang section, Jianhe County, eastern Guizhou, China, includes, in ascending order, the Bianmachong, Balang, and Tsinghsutung formations, with a total thickness of about 645 m. Twenty-six morphological genera (including one new genus) are identified from the Balang and the underlying Bianmachong formations, many of which are common and widely distributed. Six acritarch assemblages are discerned in the Balang Formation. They are, in ascending order, the Adara alea‒Skiagia ornata, the Acrum radiale‒Pterospermella velata, the Comasphaeridium molliculum‒Solisphaeridium baltoscandium, the Corrugasphaera perfecta n. sp.‒Pterospermella vinctusa n. sp., the Acrum novum‒Heliosphaeridium oligum, and the Acrum membranosum‒Adarve diafanum acritarch assemblages. An obvious change of organic-walled microfossil assemblages occurred in the interval between 84 m and 98 m from the bottom of the Balang Formation which roughly corresponds to the boundary between the Oryctacarella duyunensis trilobite Zone and the overlying Arthricocephalus chauveaui trilobite Zone. In addition, organic-walled microfossils are scarce in about 24 m thick from the bottom of the Balang Formation. One new genus and five new species including Plagasphaera balangensis n. gen. n. sp., Asteridium tubulus n. sp., Cymatiosphaera spina n. sp., Corrugasphaera perfecta n. sp., and Pterospermella vinctusa n. sp. are described.     

Lower Middle Devonian,Eifelian, crinoids from central Guangxi,South China

The extensive Devonian marine deposits of South China have yielded few articulated crinoid cups or theca. Two Eifelian specimens, from the Gupa Member, are the first ones reported from the Yingtang Formation, Eifelian, from the Ma’anshan section, Guangxi, South China. The new taxon Guangxicrinus xiangzhouensis n. gen. n. sp. is the first report of a marsupiocrinid in China, extending the paleogeographic range of the family into the Paleotethys and the stratigraphic range of the family upward from the upper Silurian into the lower Middle Devonian, Eifelian. The occurrence of Halocrinites sp. is the third occurrence of a cupressocrinitid in China and extends the paleogeographic range from Yunnan to Guangxi.