The base of the Dapingian (and the top of the Floian) is defined as the first appearance of the conodont species Baltoniodus triangularis which happened about 471.3 million years ago.
[10] The Whiterock Narrows section in the Ninemile Formation of Nevada was the initial suggestion for the GSSP of the third stage, but a 2001 review of the site revealed that its local conodont fauna was misaligned with wider graptolite zonation.
[12] The Huanghuachang section of China hosted a more diverse fauna of index fossils, including Baltoniodus triangularis and biostratigraphically useful graptolites and chitinozoans.
Fan et al. (2020) define GOBE as a 20 Myr interval that began in the Tremadocian and ended in the late Dapingian, although other researchers have suggested different temporal limits.
[23] Funeralaspis, the oldest named odontopleurine trilobite, was discovered in the Dapingian of the Antelope Valley Formation in Inyo County, California.
[24] Since the Dapingian, there has been a connection between the Afro-European part of Gondwana and Baltica, which is confirmed by the discovery of fossils of cornutan stylophorans Phyllocystis in these regions.
[25] Planopora, the oldest сystoporate bryozoan to form erect, bifoliate colonies, is known from the Dapingian of the Baltic paleobasin, Leningrad Oblast, Russia.