Size variation of the end Permian conodont Neogondolella at Meishan Section, Changxing, Zhejiang and its significance

This study is based on both a generic and species level investigation of the individual size of the latest Permian conodont Neogondolella Pa elements collected from Meishan Section A, Changxing, Zhejiang Province. In this study, an obvious size reduction of Neogondolella Pa elements within bed 24e of the upper Changxing Limestone is recognized. The size variation of the Neogondolella occurs simultaneously with some important events including the negative shift of δ13C, change in the ratio of the abundance of cyanobacterial biomarkers versus that of other general bacterial biomarkers and the shallowing of the sea water. Through the investigation of the paleoenvironmental changes and the analysis of the paleoecology of the conodont genus Neogondolella, the authors propose that the major factors for the size reduction of species of the conodont genus Neogondolella are food shortages caused by the mass extinction, the shallowing of the sea water as well as the increase in opacity of the sea water during the end Permian. The same phenomenon of Neogondolella size reduction is also observed in preliminary research from the same horizon at Shangsi Section, Sichuan Province. All the evidence suggests that there was a mass extinction that occurred at the horizon of bed 24e, and the evidence supports the viewpoint of a multi-phase mass extinction during the Permian and Triassic transition in South China.