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Dendroid graptolites from the Lower Ordovician (Tremadocian) of the Yichang area, Hubei, China

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Abstract

The Yichang area of Hubei Province, China provides important information on Lower to Middle Ordovician fossil faunas and is a center for research on Ordovician graptolites due to the sometimes excellent preservation of the copiously available material. New material collected during a research project on Lower to Middle Ordovician biota in the Yichang Region provided among others specimens a number of dendroid (benthic) graptolites of the genera Acanthograptus, Aspidograptus, Dendrograptus, and Koremagraptus showing unexpected and unknown structural features, useful for structural and evolutionary investigations.

Kurzfassung

Die Region der Stadt Yichang in der Provinz Hubei (China) ist als ein Zentrum der Untersuchung von Graptolithen zu sehen, da die Paläozoischen Abfolgen der Gegend fossilreich sind und immer wieder exzellent erhaltenes Material für die paläontologische Untersuchung liefert. Kürzlich für ein Projekt zum Verständnis der Unter- und Mittelordovizischen Biota gesammeltes Material aus dieser Region beinhaltete unter anderem eine Anzahl von dendroiden (benthischen) Graptolithen der Gattungen Acanthograptus, Aspidograptus, Dendrograptus und Koremagraptus, die unerwartete und bislang unbekannte Merkmale zeigten, die für taxonomische Interpretationen von großem Wert sind.

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Acknowledgments

The authors greatly appreciate the financial support provided by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education (NN307 130537) to Andrzej Baliński. Many thanks are due to Yanlin Sun (Key Laboratory of Orogenic Belts and Crustal Evolution, School of Earth and Space Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China) and A.B. (Institute of Paleobiology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland) for material and A.B. for taking light photographs.

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  1. Institut für Geologische Wissenschaften, Freie Universität Berlin, Malteser Str. 74-100, Haus B, Raum 322, 12249, Berlin, Germany

    Jörg Maletz

  2. Institute of Paleobiology, Polish Academy of Sciences, ul. Twarda 51/55, 00-818, Warszawa, Poland

    Anna Kozłowska

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Correspondence to Jörg Maletz.

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Maletz, J., Kozłowska, A. Dendroid graptolites from the Lower Ordovician (Tremadocian) of the Yichang area, Hubei, China. Paläontol Z 87, 445–454 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12542-013-0174-4

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