Permian (Leonardian) brachiopods from Paso Hondo Formation, Chiapas, southern Mexico. Paleobiogeographical implications

- Five species of brachiopods from Permian (Leonardian) of Mexico are described.
- Dyoros (Lissosia) maya and Hustedia shumardi are proposed as new species.
- Fossils and rocks indicate a restricted environment within the marine platform.
- The taxa studied are related with Permian localities of the biotic Grandian Province.
- It is likely a geographic connection of this region and Texas during Early Permian.

One of the most important marine sequences of calcareous rocks from the Paleozoic of Mexico outcrops in southern Chiapas. It is composed by different units from Early Permian, being the Paso Hondo Formation the youngest with a Leonardian age. Different groups of marine invertebrates as corals, bivalves, gastropods, bryozoans, brachiopods and crinoids have been previously reported of this unit. Five brachiopod species of the orders Productida, Athyridida, Spiriferida and Spiriferinida from the Barrio Allende section of this unit are herein described. The new species Dyoros (Lissosia) maya and Hustedia shumardi are proposed. Sedimentology and paleoecology of the Paso Hondo Formation, suggest a well-lighted shallow lagoon environment with continuous terrigenous input. The subgenus Dyoros (Lissosia), the genus Paucispinifera and the species Hustedia shumardi, Spiriferella propria and Spiriferellina tricosa are typical taxa from Permian localities of Texas, New Mexico and Coahuila. Their presence in the studied area suggests that during Early Permian there was a geographic connection between the different localities of the biotic Grandian Province (southern USA, northern Mexico and Venezuela) and southeastern Chiapas.