Late Carboniferous (Moscovian) choristitid brachiopods from Nagaiwa in the South Kitakami Belt, NE Japan

This study describes the following four choristitid brachiopod species from the Upper Carboniferous (Moscovian) Nagaiwa Formation of Nagaiwa, South Kitakami Belt, northeast Japan: Choristites mosquensis Fischer de Waldheim, Choristites jigulensis (Stuckenberg), Parachoristites nagaiwensis sp. nov., and Parachoristites sp. The occurrence of these brachiopods suggests that the South Kitakami region was part of the continental shelf bordering the eastern margin of North China (Sino-Korea) during the Late Carboniferous. This finding supports the strike-slip model, one of three models proposed to explain the Pre-Neogene tectonics of Japan