Smithian (Early Triassic) ammonoid faunas from northwestern Guangxi (South China) Taxonomy and Biochronology

The highly fossiliferous succession of Smithian (Early Triassic) ammonoids from northwestern Guangxi (South China) provides a key equatorial record, at the boundary between Tethys and Panthalassa. After the end-Permian extinction, ammonoids reached their first major diversity peak during Smithian times, coupled with a marked contrast in their latitudinal distribution. This monograph contains a part of the fundamental taxonomic and biostratigraphic data of a more comprehensive research project addressing patterns of recovery in time and space of Early Triassic ammonoids and other marine clades, in conjunction with global paleoceanographic and paleoclimatic changes.

Hugo Bucher is professor of Paleontology with the University of Zurich and with the Earth Science Department of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich.