Indonesian Permian brachiopod fauna and Gondwana–South-East Asia relationships

Abstract

The island of New Guinea, geologically and structurally part of the Indian–Australian plate1,2, is shown on continental reconstructions of the Permian globe as forming the northeastern part of the supercontinent of Gondwana3,4, facing a large Tethys Ocean to the north. The existence of an ocean separating South-East Asia from Gondwana by some 45° of latitude during the Permian has been widely disputed because of the strati-graphical, structural5–10 and palaeontological11–14 links between the regions. Palaeontological comparisons of New Guinea and Asia are essential for testing whether or not South-East Asia was a part of Gondwana during the Permian15,16. We now give an account of the first, diverse, reliably dated, Permian articulate brachiopod fauna to be discovered from the island of New Guinea. This fauna is interpreted as reflecting the geographical proximity of Thailand and Irian Jaya during the late early Permian.