Evolutionary patterns of Productida (Brachiopoda) morphology during the Permian in South China.

The evolutionary patterns of Productida (brachiopod) morphology throughout the Permian show that while the percentage proportion of Productida (brachiopod) with strongly concentric and radial ornamentation declined from the Cisuralian to the Guadalupian, and then increased towards the Changhsingian via Wuchiapingian, the percentage proportion of Productida (brachiopod) with fine concentric and radial ornamentation distinctly increased from the Cisuralian to the Guadalupian, slightly declined towards the Wuchiapingian, and then increased towards the Changhsingian. From the Cisuralian to the Changhsingian, the percentage proportion of brachiopods with spinose ornamentation shows a persistent declining trend. The shell size generally indicates a miniaturization trend at species level during the Wuchiapingian to Changhsingian (including the transitional bed). These evolutionary patterns of brachiopod ornamentation and size are possibly related to the anoxia, food shortage, sea-level fluctuation, and change of substrate in the Permian (including the Permian-Triassic transitional interval) in South China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]