The Zhuganpo Formation is a

Triassic The Triassic ( ) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.6 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.36 Mya. The Triassic is the first and shortest period ...

geologic unit found in southern

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. It has historically been known as the Zhuganpo Member of the Falang Formation. A diverse fossil assemblage known as the Xingyi biota or Xingyi Fauna can be found in the upper part of the Zhuganpo Formation. Fossils of the Xingyi biota include articulated skeletons of marine reptiles, abundant fish, and a plentiful assortment of

invertebrates Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...

indicating a

Ladinian The Ladinian is a stage and age in the Middle Triassic series or epoch. It spans the time between Ma and ~237 Ma (million years ago). The Ladinian was preceded by the Anisian and succeeded by the Carnian (part of the Upper or Late Triassic). ...

to Carnian age for the sediments of the formation.

Paleobiota

Invertebrates

Ammonites Ammonoids are a group of extinct marine mollusc animals in the subclass Ammonoidea of the class Cephalopoda. These molluscs, commonly referred to as ammonites, are more closely related to living coleoids (i.e., octopuses, squid and cuttlefish) ...

: '' Clionitites'' sp., '' Detoniceras'' sp., '' Haoceras xingyiense'', '' Parasturia'' sp., '' Protrachyceras'' sp., ''

Ptychites ''Ptychites'' is an extinct genus of cephalopods belonging to the family Ptychitidae. These nektonic carnivores lived during the Triassic period, from Anisian to Ladinian age. Species * ''Ptychites besnosovi'' Shevyrev 1995 * ''Ptychites densist ...

'' sp., '' Sinomeginoceras'' (''S. wangi, S. xingyiense''), '' Trachyceras'' sp., '' Xenoprotrachyceras'' cf. ''primum'', '' Yangites densicostatus'', *

Bivalves Bivalvia (), in previous centuries referred to as the Lamellibranchiata and Pelecypoda, is a class of marine and freshwater molluscs that have laterally compressed bodies enclosed by a shell consisting of two hinged parts. As a group, bival ...

: '' Daonella'' sp. *

Conodonts Conodonts (Greek ''kōnos'', "cone", + ''odont'', "tooth") are an extinct group of agnathan (jawless) vertebrates resembling eels, classified in the class Conodonta. For many years, they were known only from their tooth-like oral elements, which ...

: '' Gladigondolella malayensis'', '' Metapolygnathus'' / '' Paragondolella'' / '' Quadralella'' (''Q.'' aff''. acuminatus, P. foliata, P. inclinata, Q. intermedius, Q. langdaiensis, P. maantangensis, P. navicula, M. nodosus, M. parafoliata, Q.'' aff''. praelindae, P. polygnathiformis, Q. shijiangjunensis, Q. tadpole,'' ''Q. uniformis, Q. wanlanensis, Q.'' aff''. wayaoensis, Q. yongueensis, Q.'' aff. ''zonneveldi'') * Crinoids: '' Traumatocrinus hsui'' *

Crustaceans Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group ...

("shrimps"): '' Schimperella acanthocercus'' (

Lophogastrida Lophogastrida is an order of malacostracan crustaceans in the superorder Peracarida, comprising shrimp-like animals that mostly inhabit the relatively deep pelagic waters of the oceans throughout the world. Most lophogastridan species are l ...

)''''

Fish

* Acrolepidae indet.'''' * '' Archaesemionotus'' sp''.'' * aff. ''

Arctacanthus ''Arctacanthus'' is an extinct genus of cartilaginous fish from the Permian and possibly Triassic period. It is known by two described species from the Permian, ''A. uncinatus'' and ''A. wyomingensis.'' The former was described from Greenland whil ...

'' sp. ( Chimaeriformes?) * '' Asialepidotus shingyiensis'' ( Ionoscopiformes)'''' * '' Birgeria liui'' * Caturidae indet.'''' * '' Eosemionotus'' sp''.'' * '' Favusodus orientalis'' (

Euselachii Elasmobranchii () is a subclass of Chondrichthyes or cartilaginous fish, including sharks (superorder Selachii), rays, skates, and sawfish (superorder Batoidea). Members of this subclass are characterised by having five to seven pairs of gil ...

)'''' * '' Fuyuanichthys wangi'' ( Ginglymodi) * '' Fuyuanperleidus dengi'' * '' Guizhouamia bellula'' * '' Guizhoubrachysomus minor'' * '' Guizhoucoelacanthus guanlingensis'' * '' Guizhouniscus microlepidus'' * '' Habroichthys'' sp''.'' * '' Keichouodus nimaiguensis'' (Euselachii)'''' * '' Luganoia fortuna'' ( Luganoiidae) * '' Malingichthys'' (''M. nimaiguensis, M. wanfendlinensis'';

Pholidophoridae Pholidophoridae is an extinct family of primitive stem-teleost fish that lived during the Triassic period. Most of the genera are from the Late Triassic (Carnian and Norian ages) of Europe, but one ('' Malingichthys'') is known from the Middle Tr ...

) * '' Marcopoloichthys'' sp''.'' * '' Peltopleurus (P. orientalis, P. tyrannos)'' * '' Peripeltopleurus'' sp''.'' ( Wushaichthyidae) *

indet.'''' * '' Potanichthys xingyiensis'' (

Thoracopteridae Thoracopteridae is an extinct family of prehistoric bony fish; classified with the order Peltopleuriformes. This lineage of Triassic flying fish-like Perleidiformes converted their pectoral and pelvic fins into broad wings very similar to those o ...

)'''' * '' Rosaodus xingyiensis'' ( Elasmobranchii) * ''

Saurichthys ''Saurichthys'' (from el, σαῦρος , 'lizard' and el, ἰχθῦς 'fish') is an extinct genus of predatory ray-finned fish from the Triassic period. It type genus family Saurichthyidae (Changhsingian- Middle Jurassic), and the larges ...

'' sp''.'' * '' Sinoeugnathus kueichowensis'' * '' Wushaichthys exquisitus'' (Wushaichthyidae) * '' Xingyia gracilis''

Reptiles

References

Geologic formations of China Triassic System of Asia Triassic China Carnian Stage Ladinian Stage Paleontology in Guizhou Paleontology in Yunnan {{China-geologic-formation-stub