The Triassic conodonts of the NW Malayan Kodiang Limestone revisited: Taxonomy and paleogeographic significance

The revision of the Middle and early Late Triassic conodonts in the Nogami (1968) collection from the NW Malaya Kodiang Limestone Formation provides clues to the multi-element reconstruction of Triassic Gondolellacea. Septi- to octomembrate multi-elements characterize the families Gondolellidae and Gladigondolellidae nov. fam. The distribution of cratognathodiform and ozarkodiniform P2 elements supports the hypothesis of sexual dimorphism in Gladigondolella rather than that of two genera. Pseudofurnishius murcianus confers a Southern Tethyan low latitude character to the Kodiang Limestone, a part of the Cimmerian string of terranes that in Triassic times formed a diagonal partition between the gradually closing Paleo-Tethys and the accordingly widening Neo-Tethys. Our findings suggest that such a realm stretched from the Southern Alps (Dinarids) in the West to Malaya (Shan Thai Terrane) in the East. Only the Eastern edge collided with Eurasia in the Late Triassic, forming the platform of Sundaland. Consequently, the Paleo-Tethys closure remained limited to SE Asia, while a substantial Paleo-Tethys still existed in Western direction, ending up in the Pindos and Vardar oceans. The Jurassic Neo-Tethys ocean extended south of the consolidated SE Asia block and Cimmerian string of terranes.