Corals from the middle Visean (Mississippian) coral biostrome in the Yashui section, Guizhou, South China: Palaeogeographical implication

Following the Late Devonian mass extinction events, rugose corals underwent a major phase of proliferation during the Visean Age (Middle Mississippian), as demonstrated by the diversification of reef-building colonial corals. The detailed taxonomical composition and palaeogeographical distribution of these reef builders, however, have not yet been explicitly studied. In this study, rugose and tabulate corals are described from the middle Visean coral biostrome in the Yashui section of central Guizhou, South China. Seven species of five genera are recognised, including solitary rugose corals Arachnolasma cylindricum, Heterocaninia guixianense, H. multiseptatum, and Kueichouphyllum sinense, colonial rugose coral Stylostrotion houi, and tabulate corals Syringopora cf. ramulosa and Sy. cf. reticulata. Within this coral fauna, St. houi, Sy. cf. ramulosa and K. sinense are most abundant and distinguished as the main builders of the biostrome. In the middle Visean, the same coral species of the Yashui coral fauna also occurred in other regions in Asia, which are positioned palaeogeographically in the eastern Palaeotethys.