Lower Carboniferous corals from the southwestern margin of the Tarim Basin, NW China

The corals described in this paper were collected from the Heshilafu Format ion at Aitegou section, southwestern margin of the Tarim Basin, southern Xi njiang (=Sinkiang), NW China in 1992. They comprise 29 species included in 24 genera. Three species are new: Fomichevella shacheensis, Auloclisia form osa and Caninostrotion xinjiangensis. The lower and middle parts of the Hes hilafu Formation are attributed to the Eostaffella mosquensis zone (Foramin ifera, Fusulinida) and the upper part of the Heshilafu Formation belongs to the Pseudoendothyra directa zone. The former correspond to Visean and the latter equivalent roughly to Serpukhovian.