Late Early to Middle Permian foraminifers of the Akiyoshi Limestone (Japan)

The late Early to Middle Permian fusuline faunas of the Akiyoshi Terrane (Permian accretionary complex) are represented by those of the Akiyoshi Limestone, Southwest Japan. They are faunistically heterogenous from those of the coeval limestone blocks in the Jurassic terranes of Japan. The upper Artinskian to Wordian of the Akiyoshi Limestone in the Kaerimizu area is biostratigraphically subdivided into nine zones in ascending order: Paraleeina magana, Pamirina leveni, Misellina dyhrenfurthi, Misellina claudiae, Cancellina pamirica, Parafusulina kaerimizensis, Neoschwagerina craticulifera, Afghanella schencki, and Colania douvillei. One-hundred and six species assignable to 58 genera of foraminifers are distinguished in the nine zones of the area. Among them, three are new: Paraleeina akiyoshiensis, Neofusulinella uenoi, and Palaeostaffella subquadrata. In addition to neoschwagerinids and verbeekinids to have been focussed on by previous workers, faunal composition and stratigraphic distribution of other fusuline taxa and non-fusuline foraminifers from the nine zones are described. Middle Permian fusulines of the Akiyoshi Limestone are closely implicative for the faunal provincialism in the global scale, and available for ancient tectonic evolution and amalgamation of East Asian and circum-Pacific terranes.