A new Permian gastropod assemblage from the Roadian (Middle Permian) Khao Khad Formation, Saraburi Group (Lopburi Province, Central Thailand) which is part of the Indochina Terrane, has yielded one of the most diverse Permian gastropod faunas known from Thailand. A total of 44 gastropod species belonging to 30 genera are described herein, including thirteen new species and one new genus. The new genus is Altotomaria. The new species are Bellerophon erawanensis, Biarmeaspira mazaevi, Apachella thailandensis, Gosseletina microstriata, Worthenia humiligrada, Altotomaria reticulata, Yunnania inflata, Trachydomia suwanneeae, Trachyspira eleganta, Heterosubulites longusapertura, Platyzona gradata, Trypanocochlea lopburiensis and Streptacis? khaokhadensis. Most of the species in the studied assemblage represent vetigastropods (35.6%) and caenogastropods (26.7%) and most of the species belong to Late Palaeozoic cosmopolitan genera. The studied faunas come from shallow water carbonates that are rich in fusulinids, followed by gastropods, ostracods, bivalves and brachiopods. The gastropod assemblage from the Khao Khad Formation shares no species with the gastropod assemblages from other Permian formations in Thailand, the Tak Fa Limestone and the Ratburi Limestone. However, it is similar to the Late Permian gastropod faunas from South China of the Palaeo-Tethys, therefore it suggests that the Indochina Terrane was not located far from South China.
Middle Permian marine invertebrate assemblages from Central Thailand are strongly dominated by gastropods. Two gastropod assemblages from the Tak Fa Limestone at Khao Noi and Khao Chao Thong of the Nakhon Sawan area are the first Permian ones from Thailand that are analysed regarding diversity and composition based on quantitative data. Both gastropod assemblages, comprising 40 species in total, are dominated by the gastropods Anomphalus sp., Warthia cf. brevisinuata and Glabrocingulum magnum; the genus Anomphalus is especially abundant which is unusual for Permian assemblages. Both studied gastropod assemblages have a similar taxonomic composition and diversity including the same values of diversity indices that indicate a moderate diversity. In addition, rarefaction analyses and rank-abundance distributions also suggest that diversity and structure of both assemblages are the same. The studied assemblage is compared with other Permian gastropod assemblages from Asia (Malaysia, East Timor and Japan). Rarefaction, diversity indices and rank-abundance distributions suggest that the diversity of the studied fauna is distinctly lower than that of the others despite coming from similar depositional environments. This is surprising because the Tak Fa gastropods lived at lower latitudes than the others. This could suggest an inverse diversity gradient in the Palaeo-Tethys, but more evidence is needed to substantiate this assumption. Several Late Palaeozoic and Early Mesozoic fossil assemblages are dominated by gastropods, e.g. those from the Pennsylvanian Buckhorn Asphalt deposit, the Permian from Japan and Malaysia, as well as the Late Triassic Cassian Formation. This shows that at least locally, gastropod dominance is not restricted to modern faunas.
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