Permian brachiopods from the Okutadami area, near the boundary between Niigata and Fukushima Prefectures, central Japan and their tectonic implications

The following four brachiopod species are newly recognized from the Okutadami area, central Japan : Anemonaria sp., Yokovlevia sp., Spiriferella sp. and Attenuatella sp. These brachiopods indicate a late Middle Permian (Midian) in age. The Okutadami fauna, consisting of both the Boreal- and Bipolar-type genera, is the first documented Permian Boreal brachiopod fauna in Japan. The occurrence of the Boreal brachiopod fauna from the Okutadami area suggests that the fossil-bearing rocks were formed at the northernmost part of Japan in the Permian time.