• New progress on the correlation of Chinese terrestrial Permo-Triassic strata

    分类: 生物学 >> 生物学其他学科 提交时间: 2018-07-18 合作期刊: 《古脊椎动物学报》

    摘要: This paper reviews recent works on the age of Chinese terrestrial Permo-Triassic strata, mainly based on the isotopic dating and the tetrapod correlation. For the application of U-Pb dating methods for the stage-level division of Permo-Triassic strata, the best method is the Thermal Ionization Mass Spectrometer (TIMS), while the Secondary Ion Mass Spectroscopy (SIMS) can be used for many cases; however, the most popular Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICPMS), which has nearly 4% error (>8 Myr), is of little use (Li et al., 2015).

  • New ootype prismatoolithids from the Late Cretaceous, Laiyang Basin and its significance

    分类: 生物学 >> 生物学其他学科 提交时间: 2018-07-18 合作期刊: 《古脊椎动物学报》

    摘要: Here we discribe a new ootypes of prismatoolithids found from the Late Cretaceous Jiangjunding Formation in the Laiyang Basin, Shandong Province. On the basis of characters such as elongate ovoids, smooth eggshell surface, relatively thinner eggshell thickness, prismatic eggshell units, slender pores in radial section of eggshell and little pores with round or irregular shapes in tangeital section of eggshell, we erect one new oogenus and one new oospecies: Laiyangoolithus lixiangensis oogen. et oosp. nov. The discovery of L. lixiangensis not only enriches the diversity and composition of the Laiyang Dinosaur Egg Fauna, but the paleogeographic distribution of primatoolithids as well. In addition, it provides more paleontological materials for the study of the diversity and paleogeographic distribution of troodontids in China.

  • Review of historical and current research on the Late Cretaceous dinosaurs and dinosaur eggs from Laiyang, Shandong

    分类: 生物学 >> 动物学 提交时间: 2017-11-07 合作期刊: 《古脊椎动物学报》

    摘要: Here we briefly review the history of research on the Laiyang dinosaur and dinosaur egg faunas, summarize the contributions of C. C. Young and other elder paleontologists to the discoveries of the Late Cretaceous dinosaurs and dinosaur eggs from Laiyang, and introduce the new discoveries and the advances in the research on the Laiyang faunas. The new investigations in Laiyang from 2008 have found a series of valley developed in plain and more than ten new dinosaur or dinosaur egg fossil beds. In 2010, we began the massive excavations at two localities in Jingangkou and collected abundant dinosaurs and other vertebrate fossils, such as a new saurolophine, some theropod material and a new taxon of turtle egg. The bone beds in Locality 2 with the typical sedimentary and burial patterns of mudflow, and these fossil deposits are interpreted as having been carried and deposited by mudflow. The re-observation and the CT scanning data of the crest of Tsintaosaurus spinorhinus (IVPP V 725) show that the crest is fractured and solid. However, based on the re-observations of its cranial and postcranial specimens, we consider that Tsintaosaurus spinorhinus is a valid taxon of lambeosaurines, which have the hollow crest. Therefore, the crest of Tsintaosaurus might not belong to the skull of this individual, and the true form of the crest needs to be confirmed in the future work. We reassess the three species of Tanius, and obtain several results. 1) Tanius sinensis and Tanius chingkankouensis are the valid species of Tanius; 2) Tanius laiyangensis is invalid.; 3) the sacrum and ilium of Tanius chingkankouensis with typical hadrosaurid features should not be referred to Tanius.

  • A new ionoscopiform fish (Holostei: Halecomorphi) from the Middle Triassic (Anisian) of Yunnan, China

    分类: 生物学 >> 动物学 提交时间: 2017-11-07 合作期刊: 《古脊椎动物学报》

    摘要: Ionoscopiformes, sister to Amiiformes, are an extinct group of halecomorph fishes previously known mainly from the late Middle Triassic (Ladinian) and Late Jurassic of Europe and the Early Cretaceous of the New World. They have not been known in China until recently two ionoscopiforms (Robustichthys and Panxianichthys) were found from the early Middle Triassic (Anisian) of Yunnan and Guizhou, respectively. Here, a new ionoscopiform, Subortichthys triassicus gen. et sp. nov., is described on the basis of six well-preserved specimens from the early Middle Triassic (Pelsonian, Anisian, ~244 Ma) marine deposits exposed in Luoping, eastern Yunnan, China. The discovery documents the second ionoscopiform from the Luoping fossil beds and one of the oldest ionoscopiforms in the world, providing important information for understanding the origin and early diversification of this group. Subortichthys is an unambiguous halecomorph as it possesses two synapomorphies of this clade: a symplectic articulating with the lower jaw and a notched posterior margin of the maxilla. Within the phylogenetic framework of the Halecomorphi, results of the phylogenetic analysis place Subortichthys at the base of the Ionoscopiformes because it bears a sensory canal in the maxilla (an ionoscopiform synapomorphy), but lacks derived features of other ionoscopiforms. Notably, Subortichthys is distinguished from other members of this order with a unique combination of features, such as presence of three or four pairs of extrascapulars and a much expanded third infraorbital posteriorly contacting the preopercle. The new material reveals that the earliest diversification of ionoscopiforms was well undertaken in South China (a part of east Paleotethys Ocean then) by the early Middle Triassic (Anisian).

  • Morphological coevolution of the pygostyle and tail feathers in Early Cretaceous birds

    分类: 生物学 >> 动物学 提交时间: 2017-11-07 合作期刊: 《古脊椎动物学报》

    摘要: The transformation from a long reptilian tail to a shortened tail ending in a pygostyle and accompanied by aerodynamic fanning rectrices is one of the most remarkable adaptations of early avian evolution. However, no fossils directly capture this transition, and information regarding the structural morphology and the early evolution of the pygostyle in Mesozoic birds and their integuments is relatively limited. Here we provide a review of the pygostyle morphology of Early Cretaceous birds with comparison to the structure in living birds. This study emphasizes the convergent evolution of distally co-ossified caudal vertebrae in non-avian maniraptorans and early birds. There further exist distinct differences in pygostyle morphology between Sapeornithiformes, Confuciusornithiformes, Enantiornithes, and Ornithuromorpha. The morphology of the pygostyle and rectrices in early ornithuromorphs appear similar to that of extant birds, whereas the pygostyle in more primitive birds does not appear morphologically capable of supporting the rectricial bulbs and musculature necessary to control an aerodynamic fan-shaped tail. The rectricial bulbs and rectricial fan appear to have coevolved with the plough-shaped pygostyle early in the evolution of the Ornithuromorpha. This study also shows that the confuciusornithiform pygostyle was more similar to that of enantiornithines than previously recognized, consistent with the presence of nearly identical ornamental tail feathers in both groups.