Weiningia from Millerella yowarensis Zone of the Akiyoshi Limestone Group : Carboniferous brachiopods from Akiyoshi, Southwest Japan, Part Ⅵ

Two new species of Weiningia, W. sugimurai and W. haikawai are described from the Upper Serpukhovian Millerella yowarensis Zone of the Akiyoshi limestone Group. Weiningia is a martini genus originally found from South China. Outside Japan and China it is only known from southern Ural and Fergana. At present the genus Weiningia is restricted in Asian regions in its geographical distribution and from the Lower Serpukhovian (E1) to Middle Bashkirian (G1) in its stratigraphical occurrence. Therefore Weiningia is rather unfamiliar even to Palezoic brachiopod specialists. Turning to the Weiningia species in the Akiyoshi limestone Group, we realize extraordinarily abundant occurrence of them in the lower part of the Millerella yowarensis Zone. In the Akiyoshi limestone Group Weiningia reveals as an indicator of upper Serpukhovian in association with fusuline Millerella yowarensis. The densely crowded occurrence of Weiningia and the shell morphology give us some suggestions for its living habits and habitats.