Trilobites of thePseudokoldinioidiaFauna (Uppermost Cambrian) from the Taebaek Group, Taebaeksan Basin, Korea

Abstract

ThePseudokoldinioidiaFauna is a newly documented uppermost Cambrian trilobite assemblage from the Dongjeom Formation of the Taebaek Group, Taebaeksan Basin, Korea. It is characterized by low species diversity comprising six trilobite taxa:Micragnostus chiushuensis, Koldinioidia typicalis, leiostegiid genus and species indeterminate,Pseudokoldinioidia perpetis, Onychopyge borealis, and pilekiid genus and species indeterminate. Of these, special attention has been paid toPseudokoldinioidia perpetis, which was originally assigned toMissisquoia, an index fossil for the uppermost Cambrian in Laurentia.Pseudokoldinioidiais restricted to eastern Asia, whereasMissisquoiais confined to Laurentia. The appearance of thePseudokoldinioidiaFauna is interpreted as contemporaneous with the base of the‘Missisquoia’ perpetisZone of North China, which in turn is correlated with the base of theMissisquoia typicalisSubzone of Laurentia. The associatedKoldinioidiaandOnychopygemake it possible to compare thePseudokoldinioidiaFauna of Korea and North China with the latest Cambrian trilobite assemblages of South China, Australia, South America, and Mexico, and also suggests an interesting biogeographic connection among these areas in the latest Cambrian.