• 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.

  • New discoveries from the Sinokannemeyeria-Shansisuchus Assemblage Zone: 3. Archosauriformes from Linxian, Shanxi, 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: The tetrapod assemblage from the Middle Triassic upper part of the Ermaying Formation of northern China has been known for two decades as the Sinokannemeyeria-Shansisuchus Assemblage because of the characteristic presence of the dicynodont therapsid Sinokannemeyeria and the erythrosuchid archosauriform Shansisuchus. Recently a Sinokannemeyeria species has been described from Member I of the Tongchuan Formation, which overlies the Ermaying, near Baidaoyu, Linxian, Shanxi Province. Here we document archosauriform specimens from the Baidaoyu site, including a partial Shansisuchus skeleton and some additional bones from probable suchian archosaurs, which constitute the first archosauriform material known from Member I of the Tongchuan. The most intriguing archosauriform specimens are a large ilium probably attributable to an unusual poposauroid, and a small, strangely shaped element that appears to represent a highly autapomorphic suchian calcaneum. Given the presence of both Sinokannemeyeria and Shansisuchus at Baidaoyu, the stratigraphic range of the Sinokannemeyeria-Shansisuchus Assemblage can be considered to extend upward into the Tongchuan Formation, although with possible changes in faunal composition. The occurrence of a poposauroid ilium at the Baidaoyu locality adds to the evidence that poposauroids diversified extensively during the Middle Triassic.

  • A new species of Brontotheriidae from the Middle Eocene of Junggar Basin, Xinjiang, 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: A new species of large Irdinmanhan brontothere, Epimanteoceras mae sp. nov., is described based on an incomplete skull which was collected from the 躴bulak Formation of Sangequan site, Junggar Basin of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The new specimen can be assigned to the genus Epimanteoceras by the large superorbital processes, the broad frontal bone, the shallow central fossae on the molars, and the absence of the anterolingual cingular cusp on molars and the hypocone on M3. E. mae is characterized by the slightly laterally bowed zygomatic arches, the medially arched parasagittal ridges, the posteromedially angled external auditory pseudomeatus, and the prominent occipital pillar processes. E. mae and E. formosus are closely related. It is uncertain whether E. mae or E. formosus forms the sister group to Brontotheriina, but both of them are the basal group of the latter in the phylogenetic analysis. They are both closed to the Irdinmanhan brontothere Protitan grangeri from Nei Mongol but much primitive than Aktautitan hippopotamopus from Kazakhstan. The discovery of E. mae in Sangequan indicates that the age of 躴bulak Formation is Middle Eocene, and earlier than that of Kyzylbulak Formation bearing A. hippopotamopus in Kazakhstan. Moreover, the discovery of E. mae in Xinjiang expanded the distribution of the genus Epimanteoceras, which was only found in Nei Mongol previously.

  • A new crested theropod dinosaur from the Early Jurassic of Yunnan Province, 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: A new crested theropod, Shuangbaisaurus anlongbaoensis gen. et sp. nov., is reported. The new taxon is recovered from the Lower Jurassic Fengjiahe Formation of Shuangbai County, Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province, and is represented by a partial cranium. Shuangbaisaurus is unique in possessing parasagittal crests along the orbital dorsal rims. It is also distinguishable from the other two lager-bodied parasagittal crested Early Jurassic theropods (Dilophosaurus and Sinosaurus) by a unique combination of features, such as higher than long premaxillary body, elevated ventral edge of the premaxilla, and small upper temporal fenestra. Comparative morphological study indicates that “Dilophosaurus” sinensis could potentially be assigned to Sinosaurus, but probably not to the type species. The discovery of Shuangbaisaurus will help elucidate the evolution of basal theropods, especially the role of various bony cranial ornamentations had played in the differentiation of early theropods.