| Summary: | A small skeletal fossil assemblage is described for the first time from the bioclastic limestone interbeds of the siltstone-dominated Guojiaba Formation, southern Shaanxi, China. The carbonate-hosted fossils include brachiopods (<i>Eohadrotreta zhujiahensis</i>, <i>Eohadrotreta zhenbaensis</i>, <i>Spinobolus</i> sp., <i>Kuangshanotreta malungensis</i>, <i>Kyrshabaktella</i> sp., <i>Lingulellotreta yuanshanensis</i>, <i>Eoobolus incipiens</i>, and <i>Eoobolus</i> sp.), sphenothallids (<i>Sphenothallus</i> sp.), archaeocyaths (<i>Robustocyathus</i> sp. and <i>Yukonocyathus</i> sp.), bradoriids (<i>Kunmingella douvillei</i>), chancelloriids sclerites (<i>Onychia</i> sp., <i>Allonnia</i> sp., <i>Diminia</i> sp., <i>Archiasterella pentactina</i>, and <i>Chancelloria</i> cf. <i>eros</i>), echinoderm plates, fragments of trilobites (<i>Eoredlichia</i> sp.), and hyolithelminths. The discovery of archaeocyaths in the Guojiaba Formation significantly extends their stratigraphic range in South China from the early Tsanglangpuian at least to the late Chiungchussuan. Thus, the Guojiaba Formation now represents the lowest known stratigraphic horizon where archaeocyath fossils have been found in the southern Shaanxi area. The overall assemblage is most comparable, in terms of composition, to Small skeletal fossil (SSF) assemblages from the early Cambrian Chengjiang fauna recovered from the Yu’anshan Formation in eastern Yunnan Province. The existing position that the Guojiaba Formation is correlated with Stage 3 in Cambrian Series 2 is strongly upheld based on the fossil assemblage recovered in this study.
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