Conodont biostratigraphy of the Yujiang Formation (Emsian, Lower Devonian) at Shizhou, Guangxi, South China

We study conodonts from the upper part of the Shizhou Member of the Yujiang Formation in Liujing area for the first time. Relatively abundant conodonts were collected from six sampling levels located between the uppermost part of the Shizhou Member to the lowermost part of the Daliancun Member at the Shizhou section, Liujing, Guangxi. The material includes Polygnathus excavatus excavatus Carls and Gandl, P. excavatus ssp. 114 Carls and Valenzuela-Ríos, P. nothoperbonus Mawson, P. perbonus (Philip) as well as ⿿Ozarkodina⿿ midundenta (Wang and Ziegler) and ⿿O.⿿ prolata Mawson. The lowest record of P. nothoperbonus is documented 0.35 m below the boundary between the Shizhou and Daliancun members. Correlation of conodont biostratigraphy between the Shizhou and Liujing sections indicates that the upper part of the Shizhou Member (partially) belongs to the excavatus Zone and the Daliancun Member belongs to the nothoperbonus Zone.