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The Visean–Serpukhovian boundary is not yet defined by a Global Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) but it is recognizable operationally by the appearance of the conodont Lochriea ziegleri in the L. nodosa–L. ziegleri chronocline. Foraminiferal successions across this boundary in the type area of the Serpukhovian Stage (Moscow Basin, Russia), elsewhere in Russia and in the central United States suggest that the appearances of Asteroarchaediscus postrugosus, Janischewskina delicata, Eolasiodiscus donbassicus, and specimens controversially referred to “Millerella tortula” are reliable, auxiliary indices to the base of the Serpukhovian. In southern Guizhou Province, China, Visean–Serpukhovian rock sequences from slope and platform settings have yielded rich associations of conodonts and foraminifers, respectively. The Nashui section is a leading candidate for the Serpukhovian GSSP because its slope deposits contain an uninterrupted record of conodont occurrences including the L. nodosa–L. ziegleri transition. Foraminifers recovered from the Nashui section are comparatively rare and include none of the basal Serpukhovian indices. In contrast, the nearby Yashui section represents a platform interior setting in which foraminifers flourished and conodonts were nearly absent. The base of the Serpukhovian at Yashui is marked approximately by the appearance of “tortula-like” specimens. Although it is not possible to correlate biostratigraphically between the Nashui and Yashui sections, the occurrence of “tortula-like” specimens at the Yashui section allows correlation with the mid-Venevian Substage of the Moscow Basin at a level coinciding with the appearance of L. ziegleri. Together, the slope and platform sections comprise an informative biostratigraphic reference area for micropaleontologic characterization of the Visean–Serpukhovian boundary in southern Guizhou.

Eighty-three fossil crabs, belonging to a new genus and species, and interpreted to be mainly exuviae, were collected from concretions within the Spray Formation at Shelter Point, Vancouver Island, British Columbia. They are assigned to the family Carcineretidae and named Longusorbis cuniculosus. The excellent preservation of the fossil crabs is a consequence of being buried in their own dwelling burrows in the intertidal zone, and subsequent formation of concretions around the specimens very early during diagenesis. Several species of mollusc occur with the crabs, and the faunal assemblage is assigned to the Pachydiscus suciaensis Zone of late Campanian to early Maestrichtian age. The small part of the Spray Formation exposed at Shelter Point contains six units of detrital sediment deposited in environments inferred to range from shallow neritic to supratidal.

This study reports the conodont succession across the Visean–Serpukhovian (V/S) boundary interval at the Naqing section, South China. Continuous centimetre-scale sampling of the relatively deep-water section in recent years has provided new data for a more detailed biostratigraphy of conodonts across the Visean–Serpukhovian boundary. Three conodont zones were described in ascending order: the Gnathodus bilineatus, Lochriea nodosa and Lochriea ziegleri zones. The first appearance datum (FAD) of L. ziegleri has been moved down to 60.1 m above the base of the Naqing section. The correlation of the conodont succession across the Visean–Serpukhovian boundary in the Naqing section with other sections in Eurasia is discussed.