121 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 © β01γ International Society of Zoological Sciences, Institute of Zoology/ Chinese Academy of Sciences and Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd Integrative Zoology 2014; 9: 121–140 doi: 10.1111/1749-4877.12052 ORIGINAL ARTICLE Early–Middle Ordovician brachiopod dispersal patterns in South China Renbin ZHAN 1 and Jisuo JIN 2 1 State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China and 2 Department of Earth Sciences, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada Abstract Paleobiogeographic patterns of the brachiopod faunas before and during the irst radiation of the Great Ordovi- cian Biodiversiication Event (GOBE) in South China at 6 different localities from the upper Jiangnan Slope to the vast area of the Upper Yangtze Platform show several interesting features. First, the initial brachiopod diver- sity acme was accompanied by both high origination and extinction rates. Second, no signiicant changes took place in the taxonomic composition and paleobiogeographic pattern of the brachiopod fauna during the radia- tion at 5 of the 6 localities studied except the near shore locality, where the irst brachiopod radiation was much later than at other localities and was marked by a dramatic increase in endemic constituents. Third, orthides were the predominant brachiopod group during the radiation, and regional brachiopod taxa played a signiicant role in deining the paleobiogeographic pattern of the radiation. Fourth, the irst brachiopod radiation was asso- ciated with γ major pulses of onshore migration from the upper Jiangnan Slope through the central Upper Yang- tze Platform to the near shore settings of the platform, with the middle pulse being the most signiicant. Finally, paleogeographic dispersal took place in both onshore and offshore directions, although the onshore expansion was more prominent; several key brachiopods, such as Paralenorthis, Nocturnellia, Protoskenidioides, Nere- idella, Euorthisina and Yangtzeella, irst appeared on the upper Jiangnan Slope and later formed distinct, and taxonomically diverse, communities on the Upper Yangtze Platform. The paleogeographic dispersal of brachio- pods is considered to be closely related to the tectonic evolution of the Qianzhong Arch. Key words: biotic radiation, brachiopod fauna, China, Ordovician, paleogeography Correspondence: Renbin Zhan, State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing β10008, China. Email: rbzhan@nigpas.ac.cn INTRODUCTION The Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event (GOBE) has been intensively investigated in South Chi- na since β000, in conjunction with the IGCP projects 410 (1997–β00β), 50γ (β004–β009) and 591 (β011– β015). This has involved systematic studies of more than 40 Ordovician sections in South China, ranging from the Upper and the Lower Yangtze Platform to the Jiangnan Slope, and a series of case studies of various taxonomic groups. Six classical Lower to Middle Ordo- vician sections were carefully measured and intensive- ly collected mainly on the Upper Yangtze Platform (Fig. 1). Taxonomic revisions and faunal analyses on the fos-