可飞翔哺乳动物出现于1．25亿年前

能在空中飞翔的哺乳动物。至少1．25亿年前就在地球上出现了，它们的飞翔时间几乎和鸟类同时。12月14日，中国科学院古脊椎动物与古人类研究所的一个研究小组在《自然》杂志上发表题为“中国东北地区中生代一滑翔的哺乳动物”的封面文章．报道了发现于内蒙古宁城地区中生代地层中一件奇特的哺乳动物化石，它是已知最早的会飞的哺乳动物，也是迄今唯一会飞的与恐龙同时代的哺乳动物。这一发现将哺乳动物的飞翔历史提前了至少7000万年，在此之前的记录是大约5100万年前的蝙蝠化石。     

中国中生代的鸟类:介绍及综述

最近十来年 ,中国辽宁发现的早白垩世的鸟类化石超过了世界上其它任何一个地区。中国的中生代鸟类化石代表了始祖鸟化石之后鸟类历史上第一次显著的分异。它们不仅包括了带有明显恐龙祖先特征的长尾的鸟类 ,而且还包括了许多进步或特化的种类 ,如早白垩世最大的鸟类 ,最原始的反鸟类 ,以及保存最好的、飞行结构和现生鸟类几乎一样的今鸟类。这些早期鸟类在诸如飞行、大小和食性等所反映的演化、形态和生态学特征等方面出现了重大的分异。具有长尾骨骼的原始基干鸟类热河鸟和驰龙类具有的相似性 ,进一步支持了鸟类起源于恐龙的学说。中国发现的早白垩世的鸟类以及树栖的恐龙化石还为鸟类飞行的树栖起源假说提供了十分重要的证据。“恐龙下树”的假说结合了鸟类起源于恐龙的学说和鸟类飞行的树栖起源学说 ,因此也得到了化石证据的支持。由于多种恐龙带有羽毛 ,因此羽毛不一定代表了恒温。恒温的鸟类可能到了早白垩世的进步鸟类中才开始出现     

侏罗纪燕辽生物群滑翔型树贼兽揭示哺乳动物中耳结构新型式

正中国科学院古脊椎动物与古人类研究所研究人员与中美数家研究机构,于2017年11月13日在英国《自然》(Nature)期刊联合发表了关于晚侏罗世早期燕辽生物群树贼兽一个新种——阿霍氏树贼兽的研究成果。新种标本产于河北省青龙县干沟镇髫髻山组,时代为晚侏罗世早期(距今约164～159百万年前),属于燕辽生物群。新材料不仅保存了迄今为止贼兽类中最好的滑翔皮翼形态和毛发印痕的细节,还保存了中生代哺乳动物中时代最早、最为完整的中耳区结构,对于认识中生代哺乳动物多样性和哺乳动物中耳     

东北中生代哺乳类动物化石的发现及其意义*

中生代哺乳动物的研究,在了解哺乳类的起源与进化上非常重要。过去美国中亚攷察(?)曾在蒙古人民共和国上白垩纪Djadochta 层内发现了保存完整的食虫类(Insectivora)化石,但在我国的中生代地层内,过去尚无哺乳类动物的化石发现。日本侵占我国东北期间,矢部长克及鹿间时夫曾发表在辽东省南部所采的侏罗纪哺乳类化石一种,定名为满洲兽(Manchurodon)(矢部,鹿间1938);后来鹿间时夫又发表了在东北阜新煤田所采的,时代亦可能为侏罗纪的食虫类化石一种,     

日本九州西部赤崎组和中甑组始新世哺乳动物:初步结果及其与亚洲陆相哺乳动物分期的对比(英文)

日本已知时代最早的古近纪哺乳动物化石产自九州西部熊本县天草(Amakusa)地区始新世地层赤崎(Akasaki)组以及鹿儿岛县甑岛(Koshiki Islands)相当层位的中甑(Nakakoshiki)组。初步研究显示这两个组产出的哺乳动物分异度较高,包括9个目的至少18种动物。赤崎动物群有3种trogosine裂齿类、2种冠齿兽科全齿类、1种等脊貘科奇蹄类、2种dichobunoid偶蹄类、1种下齿兽科踝节类、1种西瓦兔猴科灵长类、1种未定食虫类以及2种可能的梳趾鼠类。中甑动物群包括1种冠齿兽科全齿类、2种小型雷兽科奇蹄类、1种高冠的下齿兽科踝节类、2种啮齿类和1种细齿兽科食肉类。这两个日本哺乳动物组合很接近早-中始新世界线。由于出现了trogosine裂齿类和雷兽,它们的时代要晚于伯姆巴动物群,极有可能与亚洲大陆阿山头期哺乳动物群相当。这两个动物群还包含了在亚洲大陆没有发现过的几个新种,并具有独特的哺乳动物组合。     

长期耕耘,多点开花

杨钟健在古脊椎动物学中最早接触的是小哺乳动物,他研究了中国北方的啮齿类化石,从而在1927年获得博士学位,并发表了国人古脊椎动物学研究的第一部专著.他早期主要研究新生代哺乳动物化石,后来研究重心转向中生代的四足类,尤其是恐龙为代表的主龙类.他是中国许多中生代类群的第一个研究者,在主龙型类、兽孔类方面做出了突出的贡献.     

长期耕耘,多点开花——杨钟健先生在古两栖、爬行动物领域的贡献

<正>杨钟健在古脊椎动物学中最早接触的是小哺乳动物,他研究了中国北方的啮齿类化石,从而在1927年获得博士学位,并发表了国人古脊椎动物学研究的第一部专著。他早期主要研究新生代哺乳动物化石,后来研究重心转向中生代的四足类,尤其是恐龙为代表的主龙类。他是中国许多中生代类群的第一个研究者,在主龙型类、兽孔类方面做出了突出的贡献。今年是他诞辰120     

中国中生代鞘翅目化石研究现状

1923年A.W.Grabau通过对山东省莱阳盆地莱阳组早白垩世昆虫化石的研究,命名了我国第1种鞘翅目化石昆虫(Proteroscarabaeus yeni).此后,中国昆虫化石分类学者先后发表了40余篇关于我国中生代鞘翅目化石昆虫的分类论著,共描述鉴定了182种,涉及35科,137属.这些化石分布于12个省,其中三叠纪11个种,侏罗纪68个种,白垩纪103个种.本文通过图表列举出我国已发现的中生代鞘翅目化石昆虫名录以及它们的分布和年代,总结了国内中生代甲虫化石当前的研究状况,并初步分析了研究中存在的一些问题.另外本文还介绍了国外学者对于中国古昆虫学者所建立的4个新科提出的不同意见.     

中国中、新生代植物大化石新属记录(2001—2010)

记录2001—2010年间根据中国中、新生代植物大化石建立的新属25个(新生代的2个,中生代的23个),记录每一属的特征、模式种、地理分布及地质时代。对模式种的创建者、创建年代、所在文献的页码、图版、产地层位、标本保存状态、分类位置以及模式标本保存单位等作详细记录。另有一属(Tharrisia Zhou,Wu and Zhang)模式种的模式标本虽非产自中国,但该属是根据研究中国发现的材料修订含义笼统老属而从中区分出来的,所以也作了记录。     

行走的鲸

行走的鲸鲸类包括海豚和豚,是回到海洋和江河生活的哺乳动物,就象中生代的爬行动物鱼龙一样,成了彻底适应水生环境的动物。它们发展成了流线型的身躯,四肢和尾巴成了划水的鳍,但是在呼吸、繁殖和哺乳上仍保留了哺乳动物的习性。在以前很长一段时间里,由于没有发现从...     

虔州豫俊兽(Yubaatarqianzhouensissp.nov.):江西赣州盆地首例晚白垩世哺乳动物化石*

本文报道了产自江西省赣州市上白垩统赣县河口组的一件多瘤齿兽类标本, 这是江西省报道的首例中生代哺乳动物化石。此标本头骨后部横向扩展, 额骨较小, 后端尖并构成眼眶的内侧边缘, M1具三列齿尖, 系统发育分析支持其归入纹齿兽超科。与河南晚白垩世的中原豫俊兽形态较为相似, 但是两者间也存在一些明显的区别, 因此建立一个豫俊兽属新种——虔州豫俊兽(Yubaatar qianzhouensis sp. nov.), 鉴定特征为: m1齿尖式为7︰6; M2齿尖式为1︰3︰3; m1颊侧后部存在一道小脊; 虔州豫俊兽m2和m1的长度比例小于中原豫俊兽; 冠状突呈楔状, 末端尖。虔州豫俊兽的发现不仅扩展了晚白垩世多瘤齿兽类在东亚地区的地理分布和物种多样性, 并且也扩展了中生代哺乳动物的地理分布。     

中国中生代哺乳类化石

本文对迄今所知的中国中生代哺乳类的化石地点、层位、时代、化石材料和系统分类位置作了总结和讨论。     

中国直翅目昆虫化石研究现状

截至目前,中国古昆虫学家已研究了分布于中国14省区的50件直翅目化石标本,发表新属38个,新种48个.通过图表提供了我国已发现的直翅目化石名录并介绍了其分布和年代.直翅目化石的研究对昆虫的起源、昆虫与植物的协同演化及古气候的演变等研究提供线索.中国已发现的直翅目化石主要分布于辽、冀、内蒙古三省区,其地质时代大部分为中生代.提出了在化石研究中存在的问题.     

Postcranial Skeleton of the Cretaceous Mammal Akidolestes cifellii and Its Locomotor Adaptations

Spalacotheroid “symmetrodontans” are a group of extinct Mesozoic mammals. They are basal taxa in the trechnotherian clade that includes modern marsupials and placentals. Therefore, fossils of spalacotheroids can provide information on the ancestral condition from which marsupials and placentals likely have evolved. Here, we describe the postcranial skeleton of Akidolestes cifellii, a spalacotheroid species from the Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation of northeastern China. Our comparison of the skeletal features of Akidolestes and the closely related Zhangheotherium and Maotherium indicates some major morphological and functional differences in the postcranium among these spalacotheroid mammals. Akidolestes shows characters for terrestrial habitat preference. Overall it appears to be a generalized terrestrial mammal. Akidolestes differs from Zhangheotherium and Maotherium in some characteristics of the scapula, the pelvis, and the hind limb, some of which can be directly correlated with different locomotor capabilities, and possibly also habitat preferences. This suggests that a greater ecomorphological differentiation occurred in these stem therian mammals than previously thought and that ecological differentiation is a major pattern in early therian mammal evolution.     

A MAMMALIAN LOWER JAW FROM THE JURASSIC OF LINGYUAN, LIAONING

<正> In 1976, a right mandible of a Mesozoic mammal was collected by Messrs. Cheng Zhengwu and Yue Zhao of Institute of Geology, the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, from the Middle Jurassic in Lingyuan County, Liaoning Province, Northeast China (fig. 1), When they were studying the Mesozoic stratigraphy of that area. This fossil site is most probably from the same locality as that of Yabeinosaurus tenuis reported by C.C. Young in 1958. Both fossils are derived from the same horizon.     

The Gondwanan and South American Episodes: Two Major and Unrelated Moments in the History of the South American Mammals

The first steps in the history of South American mammals took place ca. 130 Ma., when the South American plate, still connected to the Antarctic Peninsula, began to drift away from the African-Indian plate. Most of the Mesozoic history of South American mammals is still unknown, and we only have a few enigmatic taxa (i.e., a Jurassic Australosphenida and an Early Cretaceous Prototribosphenida) that pose more evolutionary and biogeographic questions than answers. The best-known Mesozoic, South American land-mammal fossils are from Late Cretaceous Patagonian beds. These fossils represent the last survivors of non- and pre-tribosphenic Pangaean lineages, all of them with varying endemic features: some with few advanced features (e.g., ?Eutriconodonta and “Symmetrodonta”), some very diversified as endemic groups (e.g., ?Docodonta Reigitheriidae), and others representing vicariant types of well known Laurasian Mesozoic lineages (e.g., Gondwanatheria as vicariant of Multituberculata). These endemic mammals lived as relicts (although advanced) of pangeic lineages when a primordial South American continent was still connected to the Antarctic Peninsula and, at the northern extreme, near the North American Plate. By the beginning of the Late Cretaceous, the volcanic and diastrophic processes that finally led to the differentiation of the Caribbean region and Central America built up transient geographic connections that permitted the initiation of an overland inter-American exchange that included, for example, dinosaurian titanosaurs from South America and hadrosaurs from North America. The immigration of other vertebrates followed the same route, for example, polydolopimorphian marsupials. These marsupials were assumed to have differentiated in South America prior to new discoveries from the North American Late Cretaceous. The complete extinction of endemic South American Mesozoic mammals by the Late Cretaceous-Early Paleocene, and the subsequent and in part coetaneous immigration of North American therians, respectively, represent two major moments in the history of South American mammals: a Gondwanan Episode and a South American Episode. The Gondwanan Episode was characterized by non- and pre-tribosphenic mammal lineages that descended from the Pangeic South American stage (but already with a pronounced Gondwanan accent, and wholly extinguished during the Late Cretaceous-Early Paleocene span). The South American Episode, in turn, was characterized only by therian mammals, mostly emigrated from the North American continent and already with a South American accent obtained through isolation. The southernmost extreme of South America (Patagonia) remained connected to the present Antarctic Peninsula at least up until about 30 Ma., and both provided the substratum where the primordial cladogenesis of “South American” mammals occurred. The resulting cladogenesis of South American therian mammals followed Gould's motto: early experimentation, later standardization. That is to say, early cladogenesis engendered a great variety of taxa with scarce morphological differentiation. After this early cladogenesis (Late Eocene-Early Oligocene), the variety of taxa became reduced, but each lineage became clearly recognizable distinctive by a constant morphologic pattern. At the same time, those mammals that underwent the “early experimentation” were part of communities dominated by archaic lineages (e.g., brachydont types among the native “ungulates”), whereas the subsequent communities were dominated by mammals of markedly “modern” stamp (e.g., protohypsodont types among the native “ungulates”). The Gondwanan and South American Episodes were separated by a critical latest Cretaceous-earliest Paleocene hiatus, it is as unknown as it is important in which South American land-mammal communities must have experienced extinction of the Gondwanan mammals and the arrival and radiation of the North American marsupials and placentals (with the probable exception of the xenarthrans, whose biogeographic origin is still unclear).     

垣曲盆地始新世哺乳动物研究的新进展

简介了近几年来在垣曲盆地开展的地层古生物工作。在河南渑池任村和山西垣曲河堤、寨里等原有的化石点上通过筛洗和发掘,不仅找到了大量的以啮齿类为主的小哺乳动物,而且还发现了曙猿等珍贵的灵长类标本。新发现的火石坡化石点所产哺乳动物化石带明显的原始色彩,预示着垣曲盆地有可能存在中始新世伊尔丁曼哈期地层。按层位列出了迄今为止最为全面的垣曲盆地始新世哺乳动物名单。     

陕西横山晚三叠世鱼类游泳遗迹化石新材料

在多次赴化石产地陕西横山县进行大规模化石发掘后,获得一批完整精美的遗迹标本,为其中鱼类游泳遗迹化石标本建立了新种Undichna prava,并重新修订U.britannica,U.tricosta两种的特征,通过遗迹形态恢复鱼体长度为50—96cm,普遍大于以往描述的国内外据遗迹标本恢复的鱼体长度。     

High-precision Ar/Ar age for the Jehol Biota

Abundant fossils of the terrestrial Jehol Biota, including plants, insects, dinosaurs, birds, mammals and freshwater invertebrates, were discovered from the Yixian Formation and the overlying Jiufotang Formation in Inner Mongolia, Hebei Province and Liaoning Province, northeastern China. Because of the exceptional preservation of fossils, the Jehol Biota is one of the most important Mesozoic lagerstätten and is referred to as a “Mesozoic Pompeii”. The Jehol Biota has provided a rare opportunity to address questions about the origin of birds, the evolution of feathers and flight, the early diversification of angiosperms and the timing of placental mammal radiation. Six tuff samples and two basalt samples collected from the Tuchengzi, the Yixian and the Jiufotang formations near the classic outcrops in western Liaoning, NE China yielded high-precision ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages. We obtain an age of 129.7 ± 0.5 Ma for a basaltic lava from the bottom of the Yixian Formation and an age of 122.1 ± 0.3 Ma for a tuff from the lowermost part of the overlying Jiufotang Formation. Our age results provide an age calibration of the whole Yixian Formation and show that the whole formation was deposited entirely within Early Cretaceous time over an interval of ~ 7 Ma.