PERMIAN CORAL FAUNAS OF THE EASTERN CIMMERIAN CONTINENT AND THEIR BIOGEOGRAPHICAL IMPLICATIONS

Abstract

Because of a depositional hiatus, Late Carboniferous corals are unknown from the eastern Cimmerian Continent. Early Permian (Asselian to Artinskian) corals are characterized by non-dissepimented solitary forms, and the absence of Kepingophyllidae and Waagenophyllidae, forms common in the Cathaysian biotic province. Roadian faunas in most areas of the eastern Cimmerian Continent are dominated by small solitary corals. These faunas are quite different from those of the Cathaysian area, where abundant large solitary and compound corals occur. By the Wordian, and into the Capitanian, large solitary and massive Waagenophyllidae, with a Cathaysian aspect, were well developed and widespread in the Cimmerian Continent. However, some endemic taxa, like Thomasiphyllum, also occur. Late Permian corals consist only of Cathaysian elements. Therefore, paleobiogeographically, the coral faunas in the eastern Cimmerian Continent reveal the following changes: (1) a Peri-Gondwanan affinity during the Early Permian to early Middle Permian, (2) an endemic Cimmerian-Cathaysian affinity during the late Middle Permian, and (3) a true Cathaysian fauna during the Late Permian. These changes may be related to the rifting of the Cimmerian Continent from Gondwanaland in the Late Early Permian and its subsequent northward drift.