A new aviculopectinid bivalve from the Early Carboniferous of Guizhou, China
Zong-Jie Fang, Yuanlin Sun, and Andrzej Baliński
Six silicified left valves including one nearly complete were obtained from acid residues of two samples collected from the Early Carboniferous Muhua Formation in Guizhou Province, China. The Chinese specimens have reticulate ornament and a large asymmetrical aviculopectinid-type resilifer and are much like Girtypecten from Permian rocks in the United States. However, the Chinese material shows only unicostate radial ornament, whereas Girtypecten is multicostate. Thus, a new taxon Girtypecten (Sinopecten) newelli subgen. et sp. nov. is proposed. The conodont assemblage occurring with G. (Sinopecten) newelli dates the new scallop as Tournaisian (the conodont Lower Siphonodella crenulata Zone); this is the oldest known occurrence of Girtypecten.
Key words: Bivalvia, Aviculopectinidae, Girtypecten, Sinopecten, Carboniferous, China.
Zong-Jie Fang zjfang@nigpas.ac.cn Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China; Yuanlin Sun (corresponding author) ylsun@pku.edu.cn Department of Geology, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China; Andrzej Baliński balinski@twarda.pan.pl Instytut Paleobiologii PAN, ul. Twarda 51/55, PL-00-818 Warszawa, Poland.
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