An overview of Chinese Silurian acritarch research

Abstract

The present paper reviews all investigations of Silurian acritarchs in China. Since Silurian acritarchs were first reported in China in 1978, significant progress has been made in Chinese Silurian acritarch research. A total of 30 scientific articles and theses have been published on Silurian acritarchs from China. The majority of these papers recorded acritarchs from South China, and most Silurian acritarch studies concentrated on the Llandovery. Two papers describing material thought to be Silurian have since been shown to be Ordovician acritarch assemblages. We have updated the systematics of the taxa in these reported assemblages and documented their biostratigraphic distribution within China. Investigations of Silurian acritarchs, however, are still very limited, and more research is needed for systematic, biostratigraphic, and palaeoecological interpretations.