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Introduction The biotic recovery following the end-Permian mass extinction is an intensively studied topic, for which high accuracy and high precision time control is of paramount importance. Nekto-pelagic clades such as ammonoids and conodonts recovered very quickly compared to other marine clades (e.g. Brayard et al. 2006, 2009; Orchard 2007) and play the leading roles in dating of Lower Triassic marine sedimentary rocks. However, many studies addressing the recovery are based on insufficiently resolved palaeontological age controls. This is particularly the case for the Dienerian, where ammonoids and biochronology are still poorly understood (Jenks et al. 2015). A review of the current knowledge of Griesbachian and Dienerian ammonoids from the Salt Range is given in the foreword of this volume (Ware & Bucher 2018) to which the reader is referred. From 2007 to 2010, our research group carried out intensive field work in the Salt Range and the Surghar Range. Palynological and carbon isotope records have been recently published by Hermann et al. (2011a,b, 2012a,b) and Schneebeli- Hermann et al. (2012), oxygen isotopes from biogenic phosphates by Romano et al. (2013), Smithian ammonoids by Br€uhwiler et al. (2012) and bivalves of Smithian and Spathian ages by Wasmer et al. (2012). The present work focuses on Griesbachian and Dienerian ammonoids from four different areas in the Salt Range. It is based on abundant and well-preserved material sampled bed by bed. This new material provides the basis for a comprehensive revision of the taxonomy and biostratigraphy of Griesbachian and Dienerian ammonoids in the Salt Range, where all relevant sections are found. Because of the incomparable quality of the Dienerian ammonoid record of the Salt Range, this taxonomic and biostratigraphical re-investigation is an essential contribution to the Lower Triassic ammonoid zonation of the Northern Indian Margin and to the understanding of the Early Triassic biotic recovery.

Recent extensive investigations in the Salt Range (Pakistan) yielded abundant, well-preserved ammonoid faunas of earliest to latest Smithian age that provided the basis for a major revision of Smithian ammonoid taxonomy and for the establishment of a high-resolution biostratigraphic sequence. Here, an additional new ammonoid fauna of typical early Smithian affinity from the uppermost part of the Ceratite Sandstone of the Nammal Gorge section is described. The new fauna, termed Euflemingites cirratus beds, is bracketed between the underlying early Smithian "Flemingites flemingianus beds”, here renamed Clypeoceras superbum beds, and the overlying middle Smithian Brayardites compressus beds. Comparison with a recently published high-resolution biochronological scheme for the Smithian of the NIM (northern Indian Margin) based on the Salt Range, Spiti (Himachal Pradesh, northern India) and Tulong (South Tibet) basins shows that the Euflemigites cirratus fauna correlates with the Dieneroceras beds from Spiti based on the common occurrence of the ammonoid species Kraffticeras pseudoplanulatum. The trans-panthalassic biogeographical distribution of Euflemingites cirratus allows correlating the new ammonoid fauna with part of the Meekoceras gracilitatis ammonoid zone of western USA. Three new species (Kashmirites weisserti, Arctoceras schalteggeri and Vercherites wyleri) are described

Recent extensive investigations in the Salt Range (Pakistan) yielded abundant, well-preserved ammonoid faunas of earliest to latest Smithian age that provided the basis for a major revision of Smithian ammonoid taxonomy and for the establishment of a high-resolution biostratigraphic sequence. Here, an additional new ammonoid fauna of typical early Smithian affinity from the uppermost part of the Ceratite Sandstone of the Nammal Gorge section is described. The new fauna, termed Euflemingites cirratus beds, is bracketed between the underlying early Smithian "Flemingites flemingianus beds”, here renamed Clypeoceras superbum beds, and the overlying middle Smithian Brayardites compressus beds. Comparison with a recently published high-resolution biochronological scheme for the Smithian of the NIM (northern Indian Margin) based on the Salt Range, Spiti (Himachal Pradesh, northern India) and Tulong (South Tibet) basins shows that the Euflemigites cirratus fauna correlates with the Dieneroceras beds from Spiti based on the common occurrence of the ammonoid species Kraffticeras pseudoplanulatum. The trans-panthalassic biogeographical distribution of Euflemingites cirratus allows correlating the new ammonoid fauna with part of the Meekoceras gracilitatis ammonoid zone of western USA. Three new species (Kashmirites weisserti, Arctoceras schalteggeri and Vercherites wyleri) are described