Special Papers in Palaeontology Number 61

This special paper details the highly endemic mid Ashgill brachiopod faunas of the border regions of Zhejiang and Jiangxi provinces, east China. These are the only brachiopods of this age known from the South China Palaeoplate. Forty-one taxa are described, including two new genera and seven new species. The brachiopods are illustrated photographically and by line drawings, including several of serial sections. The South China fauna is compared, through faunal affinty analysis, with contemporary faunas from Asia and Australia. It is most similar to that from Kazakhstan, and this provides biogeographical data to back up plate tectonic models for this region.