The vast majority of Early Devonian graptolites are widely distributed within the 30°N and 30°S parallels of paleolatitude, with only a few known at higher latitudes. Only three early Devonian graptolite locations, i.e., west Yunnan, southeast Guangxi (in low paleolatitude), and south Xizang (Tibet) (in middle-high paleolatitude), have been reported in China.

Recently, an Early Devonian graptolite fauna from the Qinzhou–Yulin region in southeast Guangxi, China is described by Academician CHEN Xu from Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences and his colleagues. This graptolite fauna of moderate diversity includes 3 genera and 14 species, with 2 new species, Uncinatograptus jadae sp. nov. and Neomonograptus aequabilis latus subsp. nov. Based on these taxa, four biozones in the Qinzhou Formation, the Uncinatograptus uniformis Biozone, the tentative Uncinatograptus praehercynicus Biozone, the tentative Neomonograptus falcarius Biozone, and the Uncinatograptus yukonensis Biozone, are erected in ascending order. The Lower Devonian graptolite biozonation in Guangxi agrees well with the global standard.

The research article was published in Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences.

Related information of this paper: Xu Chen, Yunan Ni, Alfred C. Lenz, Linna Zhang, Zhongyang Chen, and Lan Tang. 2015. Early Devonian graptolites from the Qinzhou–Yulin region, southeast Guangxi, China. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 52(11): 1000-1013. doi: 10.1139/cjes-2015-0025.

Comparison of 6 Early Devonian sections in the Qinzhou–Yulin region, Guangxi, China