Early Late Permian (Wuchiapingian) foraminiferal fauna newly found from the limestone block of the Sambosan Belt in the southern Kanto Mountains, Japan.

Abstract

Late Permian foraminifers are newly found from an exotic limestone block contained in the Upper Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous accretionary complexes of the Sambosan Belt in the southern Kanto Mountains. Distinguished fauna consists of 23 species assignable to 18 genera, including Codonofusiella kueichowensis, Nanlingella cf. meridionalis, N. ? simplex, and Robuloides gibbus. They are thought to be Wuchiapingian (Dzhulfian) in age based on their stratigraphic distribution of the Tethyan Upper Permian, especially of South China. Several foraminifers characteristic in the Tethyan Upper Permian, such as Colaniella and Paraglobivalvulina, are absent in the present Sambosan fauna. In addition to the composition, comparison, and age of the present fauna, its importance of this new find in relation to provincialism and extinction of Late Paleozoic foraminifers is clearly shown.