Latest Permian Spumellaria and Entactinaria (Radiolaria) from South China

A diverse and well-preserved latest Permian radiolarian fauna was obtained from bedded siliceous rocks and siliceous mudstones of the Dongpan Section, southwest Guangxi, China. All encountered specimens of the order Spumellaria and a few specimens of the order Entactinaria were selected for the taxonomic study of this paper. Thirty-three species, 15 of which are new species, were identified. They belong to 15 genera, three of which (Paracopicyntra, Copiconulus, and Yujingella) are new. The most interesting result of our study is that eight typical Middle Triassic spumellarian genera (Paroertlispongus Kozur and Mostler, Tetrapaurinella Kozur and Mostler, Paurinella Kozur and Mostler, Lithelius Haeckel, Archaeospongoprunum Pessagno, Tamonella Dumitrica, Kozur and Mostler, Bistarkum Yeh, and Tetraspongodiscus Kozur and Mostler) were discovered in the upper Changhsingian strata studied herein. Therefore, the most important and characteristic spumellarian families of the Middle Triassic were already present in the Late Permian of South China.