临夏盆地的新生代地层及其哺乳动物化石证据

临夏盆地的新生代地层相当发育 ,保存了从渐新世至全新世的连续沉积序列。更为重要的是 ,这些沉积物中含有丰富的哺乳动物化石 ,为划分和对比临夏盆地的新生代地层提供了可靠的证据。然而 ,此前关于这个盆地地层层序和时代的认识有许多矛盾之处 ,地层命名繁复 ,化石证据混乱。近年来我们对临夏盆地的野外考察已理清了沉积序列 ,并在充分的哺乳动物化石证据的基础上重新厘定了各个岩石地层单位所对应的地质时代。临夏盆地的新生代哺乳动物化石以晚渐新世的巨犀动物群、中中新世的铲齿象动物群、晚中新世的三趾马动物群和早更新世的真马动物群最为丰富。     

临夏故事

临夏盆地位于青藏高原东北缘 ,晚新生代地层发育 ,蕴藏着丰富的哺乳动物化石。自上个世纪 5 0年代以来这里就盛产作为中药材的“龙骨” ,实际上就是大型的哺乳动物化石 ,可惜的是很少被作为科学研究的材料。最近 ,我们已在从晚渐新世至早更新世的各个层位中发现了大量的哺乳动物化石 ,包括晚渐新世的巨犀动物群、中中新世的铲齿象动物群、晚中新世的三趾马动物群和早更新世的真马动物群 ,尤其以三趾马动物群最为丰富 ,以鼬、剑齿虎、鬣狗、四棱齿象、三趾马、犀牛、弓颌猪、长颈鹿、麝牛和羚羊等为代表。临夏盆地的三趾马动物群化石在数量和…     

南海北部琼东南盆地渐新世-上新世沟鞭藻指示的沉积环境北大核心CSCD

通过对南海北部琼东南盆地渐新世—上新世3个钻井剖面412个沟鞭藻样品的系统分析,发现了较丰富的沟鞭藻化石。根据沟鞭藻化石丰度、分异度变化以及特征性的环境指示种,对琼东南盆地渐新世至上新世的沉积环境进行了详细研究。认为研究区从早渐新世早期海水开始入侵,至早渐新世晚期海侵范围进一步扩大,一直持续到晚渐新世;早中新世沟鞭藻化石数量和种类明显出现低谷,发生了一次较为明显的海退;中中新世至晚中新世,沟鞭藻化石较丰富,丰度和分异度增加,海水明显比早中新世沉积时期加深;早上新世早期,指示海侵的化石属种较丰富,反映了温暖浅海的沉积环境;早上新世晚期,指示一种开阔的海洋环境,水体较深;晚上新世早期,沟鞭藻化石属种面貌反映了热带浅海环境,但水体可能比早上新世晚期沉积时要浅;晚上新世晚期,指示海侵的沟鞭藻化石属种达到最繁盛时期,海侵范围进一步扩大。     

南海北部琼东南盆地渐新世—上新世沟鞭藻指示的沉积环境

通过对南海北部琼东南盆地渐新世—上新世3个钻井剖面412个沟鞭藻样品的系统分析,发现了较丰富的沟鞭藻化石。根据沟鞭藻化石丰度、分异度变化以及特征性的环境指示种,对琼东南盆地渐新世至上新世的沉积环境进行了详细研究。认为研究区从早渐新世早期海水开始入侵,至早渐新世晚期海侵范围进一步扩大,一直持续到晚渐新世;早中新世沟鞭藻化石数量和种类明显出现低谷,发生了一次较为明显的海退;中中新世至晚中新世,沟鞭藻化石较丰富,丰度和分异度增加,海水明显比早中新世沉积时期加深;早上新世早期,指示海侵的化石属种较丰富,反映了温暖浅海的沉积环境;早上新世晚期,指示一种开阔的海洋环境,水体较深;晚上新世早期,沟鞭藻化石属种面貌反映了热带浅海环境,但水体可能比早上新世晚期沉积时要浅;晚上新世晚期,指示海侵的沟鞭藻化石属种达到最繁盛时期,海侵范围进一步扩大。     

临夏盆地早中新世上庄组的巨獠犀门齿化石(英文)

记述了在临夏盆地早中新世地层中发现的兰州巨獠犀(Aprotodon lanzhouensis)的下门齿化石,其特点为非常粗壮并强烈弯曲。新材料的发现使巨獠犀在临夏盆地的延续时代跨越渐新世/中新世界线的推测得到完全证实。巨獠犀分布的地质时代和地理范围与巨犀重合,但巨獠犀的化石地点和个体数量都相当稀少。巨獠犀的下颌形态功能特点指示其生活于晚始新世至早中新世中国西北、南亚和中亚干旱环境地带中镶嵌分布的少量近水环境。巨獠犀在中中新世之前彻底绝灭,其原因可能是气候变化的结果,也说明临夏盆地早中新世的环境特征与晚渐新世的疏林系统相似,而不同于中中新世的茂密森林。     

内蒙古高特格上新世哺乳动物群(英文)

简短报道了 2 0 0 0年和 2 0 0 2年采自内蒙古高特格上新统的一批哺乳动物化石。这些材料包括小型和大、中型哺乳动物 ,计有 7目 2 2科 41属 46种。在群体的结构上 ,这一哺乳动物群与最晚中新世二登图动物群、早上新世比例克和高庄动物群接近 ,但其时代比二登图和比例克动物群都晚 ,而可能比高庄动物群的上部稍早。高特格动物群似乎代表中国新近纪哺乳动物群序列中的一个新成员 ,时代应为早上新世晚期 ,或中国哺乳动物年代的榆社期早期 ,大体与欧洲陆相哺乳动物时代的早露西尼晚期或MN1 5a的时代相当。动物群的组合指示了一个以温带草原为主 ,局部地方有灌木丛林和水体的生态环境 ,与二登图和比例克动物群的情况相似。从晚中新世二登图动物群到早上新世高特格动物群的演替表明 ,内蒙古中部地区在这一时期的环境似乎渐趋干旱和草原化。     

宁夏海原两个第三纪中期哺乳动物群的发现

在宁夏南部海原地区首次发现了第三纪中期的哺乳动物化石。它们产自二个不同的层位：上层的采自红柳沟组的底部;下层的产自清水营组的上部,我们称为袁家窝窝动物群。袁家窝窝动物群的时代为中渐新世。这一动物群在海原的发现不但将产中渐新世哺乳动物群的地点往南推移,而且表明在海原的清水营组时代的上限为中渐新世。在红柳沟组底部发现的哺乳动物群表明其时代可能为早中新世（或更早）,显然要比典型地区的红柳沟组的时代－中中新世要早。这不但表明红柳沟组是异时性的,至少代表早－中中新世的沉积,而且说明在中新世时从早期到中、晚期宁夏盆地的沉积中心可能由南向北推移。这很可能与六盘山的抬升有关。     

内蒙古中部中新世小哺乳动物群及其时代顺序

报道了内蒙古中部地区几个中新世小哺乳动物化石地点──嘎顺音阿得格、阿木乌苏、查干诺尔、沙拉等的新发现。探索了这些动物群体之间以及它们与经典的中中新世通古尔动物群和最晚中新世二登图动物群之间的关系。初步研究表明,嘎顺音阿得格动物群的时代更可能为早中新世,过去认为有属于晚渐新世的可能性不大。动物群的组成分析说明,中新世时内蒙古中部的生态环境具有浓厚的现代古北区的色彩。     

步林在甘肃党河流域塔奔布鲁克地区的早期工作记录——经典脊椎动物化石地点与现代地层框架的解译

1931-1932年博格·步林在甘肃省西部塔奔布鲁克地区(又名党河地区,位于肃北县城西南)首次发现丰富的新生代哺乳动物化石。步林在塔奔布鲁克盆地中部燕丹图沟中找到三个小哺乳动物化石异常丰富的层位。三个层位紧靠在一起,其中产出的哺乳动物群被命名为燕丹图动物群。步林明确指出燕丹图动物群为晚渐新世。该动物群以后成为晚渐新世塔奔布鲁克哺乳动物期的典型动物群并沿用至今。     

晚中新世晚期土城子小哺乳动物组合及土城子动物群在内蒙古中部地区新近纪哺乳动物群序列中的位置（英文）

近百年来,在内蒙古中部地区发现了丰富的新近纪哺乳动物化石,命名和描述了10余个哺乳动物群,其时代跨越早中新世至早上新世。它们已经成为建立中国北方新近纪哺乳动物生物年代地层框架的重要依据。早在1959年中苏古生物联合考察过程中就已经发现土城子地区有丰富的哺乳动物化石,但这些化石以大–中型哺乳动物为主,缺乏小哺乳动物。土城子动物群的构成和其在中国北方新近纪哺乳动物年代地层框架中的位置长期以来不是特别明确。报道了在土城子新发现的6种小哺乳动物化石。根据Lophocricetus grabaui–Sinocricetus zdanskyi–Prosiphneus licenti–Hansdebruijnia pusilla–Moschus grandaevus的组合特点,认为土城子动物群的年代应该可以很好地约束在晚中新世(或者保德期)的晚期。土城子动物群明显比内蒙古的宝格达乌拉动物群要进步一些,与二登图动物群非常相似,时代上晚于前者,略早于后者。依据动物群整体面貌,推测在晚中新世晚期土城子地区存在森林和草原混合的环境。     

Homeomorphy between Devonian brachiopod communities in France and Iowa

The diverse brachiopod faunas from the Calcaire de Ferques of north France and the Lime Creek Formation of Iowa show a remarkable homeomorphy. They are both of Frasnian age and occupied similar mid-shelf muddy carbonate environments. It is possible to match species in the two faunas on external form; this similarity can also be seen in the population histograms. The two areas originated in different faunal provinces, however, and serial sections show that homeomorphic forms were not genetically related. Thus it seems possible that the similarity between the two faunas is entirely a result of adaptation to similar environments.     

Similarity in ectoparasite faunas of Palaearctic rodents as a function of host phylogenetic, geographic or environmental distances: Which matters the most?

Different host species harbour parasite faunas that are anywhere from very similar to very different in species composition. A priori, the similarity in the parasite faunas of any two host species should decrease with increases in either the phylogenetic distance, the distinctness of the environments occupied or the geographical distance between these hosts. We tested these predictions using extensive data on the faunas of fleas (Insecta: Siphonaptera) and gamasid mites (Acari: Parasitiformes) parasitic on rodents across the Palaearctic. For each pair of host species, we computed the similarity in parasite faunas based on both species composition as well as the phylogenetic and/or taxonomic distinctness of parasite species. Phylogenetic distances between hosts were based on patristic distances through a rodent phylogeny, geographic distances were computed from geographic range data, and environmental dissimilarity was measured from the average climatic and vegetation scores of each host range. Using multiple regressions on distance matrices to assess the separate explanatory power of each of the three dependent variables, environmental dissimilarity between the ranges of host species emerged as the best predictor of dissimilarity between parasite faunas, especially for fleas; in the case of mites, phylogenetic distance between host species was also important. A closer look at the data indicates that the flea and mite faunas of two hosts inhabiting different environments are always different, whilst hosts living in similar environments can have either very similar or dissimilar parasite faunas. Additional tests showed that dissimilarity in flea or mite faunas between host geographic ranges was best explained by dissimilarity in vegetation, followed by dissimilarity in climatic conditions. Thus, external environmental factors may play greater roles than commonly thought in the evolution of host-parasite associations.     

Mid-Cretaceous/Albian (Cretaceous) ostracod assemblages from NW Hungary reflecting deep marine,nearshore and non-marine environments

The Albian sediments of the Transdanubian Range in Hungary were deposited in non-marine to fully-marine environments. The studied sections revealed diverse benthic ostracod faunas with moderately-preserved specimens. Forty-six taxa are identified and Cypridea zalanyii n. sp. is newly described. The detailed palaeoecological study of these ostracod faunas provided an opportunity to distinguish eight assemblages. The assemblages include limnic, brackish lagoon, shallow marine, reef and low oxygenated semi-enclosed basin environments in the Northern Tethys region we investigated. This work contributes to the knowledge about Albian non-marine faunas from Europe and explores ecological requirements of brackish faunas.     

Bioclimatic discriminant capacity of terrestrial mammal faunas

A new method of environmental inference is presented. This method uses the climatic restriction index (CRI) for each mammal species, based on its geographical range within different climatic regimes, and a set of calculated summary indexes known as the bioclimatic spectrum. Analysis of 50 faunas throughout the world shows that terrestrial mammal communities are effective tools for accurate climatic inference at large spatial scale. The results also indicate that the use of entire mammalian fauna is the best inference system, followed by those based on separate groups such as Insectivora, Rodentia, micromammals and macromammals. Removing Chiroptera from the analysis does not change the results significantly. Bioclimatic analysis appears to be a good method for environmental interpretation. This new method ensures a high qualitative precision. It provides an empirical model for mammal community characterization that must be taken into account for palaeoclimatic reconstructions of continental environments.     

Late Mississippian to Early Pennsylvanian conodont biofacies in central Montana

Later Mississippian (upper Chesterian) to Early Pennsylvanian (lower Morrowan) conodont faunas were recovered from limestones and calcareous mudstones of the Alaska Bench Formation in central Montana. These faunas define four biofacies, each recognized by the dominance of a particular single element genus for which the biofacies is named. The Adetognathus biofacies represents lagoonal, tidal flat, and barrier sediments. The Declinognathodus/Idiognathoides biofacies represents a deposition in shallow, open marine, offshore conditions. The Rhachistognathus biofacies represents a transitional environment between restricted, intertidal environments and normal marine, offshore environments. The Neognathodus biofacies represents shallow-water bay or lagoonal deposition, where environmental controls have effectively excluded other conodont faunas. The investigation of conodont biofacies provides improved biostratigraphic and paleoenvironmental uses of conodonts.     

中国新近纪哺乳动物生物年代学

基于迄今为止发现的包括大型和小型哺乳动物在内的动物群资料,中国的新近纪被划分为7个哺乳动物期和13个哺乳动物群单位(NMU)。现在,通过对大量新化石地点和新化石记录的研究,中国的新近纪NMU已经得到显著的充实。这些新资料的重要意义在于极大地促进了我们对动物群转换和分期界线标定的认识。最近几年来,中国的新近纪哺乳动物分期变得更加精细,这主要得益于古地磁地层学的广泛应用,使得这些分期之间的界线能够进行准确的校正和定年。越来越多的古地磁分析资料使中国的新近纪哺乳动物群在与欧洲的动物群进行对比时有了一个良好的标尺。因此,本文主要依据哺乳动物化石和古地磁测年数据在中国的新近纪哺乳动物群单位和欧洲的新近纪哺乳动物分带(MN)之间进行对比。     

Late Devonian - Early Carboniferous vertebrate microremains from the Carnic Alps, northern Italy

Vertebrate microremains from the Late Devonian-Early Carboniferous of the Carnic Alps are predominantly chondrichthyan, with minor placoderm and actinopterygian remains. The faunas are sparse and, with very few exceptions, occur only in conodont-rich pelagic limestones (Pramosio Limestone) representative of the palmatolepid-bispathodid conodont biofacies. Phoebodont and jalodont chondrichthyans, also reflecting open-ocean environments, predominated during the Famennian, and eventually symmoriids seem to predominate during the Early Carboniferous. The presence of Siamodus in this assemblage gives a new locality for this genus known from few regions in the world and allows confirming its stratigraphical range (limpidus Zone) and its relation to deep-water environments. The Late Devonian vertebrate faunas are tropical and cosmopolitan, having much in common with coeval taxa from the North-Gondwanan margins and Asian terranes. Composition of the vertebrate faunas is consistent with the Carnic Alps terrane having occupied a position intermediate between Gondwana and Laurussia, as hypothesized by various authors, but because of sparsity of the taxa represented and the pronounced cosmopolitan nature of both the conodont and vertebrate faunas, the data are not compelling.     

Cenozoic environmental change in South America as indicated by mammalian body size distributions (cenograms)

A cenogram is a rank‐ordered body size distribution of non‐predatory terrestrial mammal species within a community. Studies of cenograms for modern faunas have shown that certain quantifiable attributes of cenograms are correlated with environmental variables such as rainfall and vegetation structure. Based on these correlations, cenograms of fossil communities have been used to infer palaeoenvironments and palaeoenvironmental variables. The present study uses cenogram statistics to interpret palaeoenvironmental conditions for eight Cenozoic South American mammal faunas, ranging from Eocene to Pleistocene in age. Body sizes for fossil taxa were taken either from the literature or were estimated using regressions of body size on molar length (or femoral bicondylar width) for modern mammals. Cenogram statistics are calculated for the eight fossil faunas and compared to similar statistics calculated for 16 modern South American mammal faunas, allowing palaeoenvironmental interpretations to be made. The palaeoenvironmental interpretations based on cenogram analyses sometimes support and sometimes contradict interpretations based on herbivore craniodental morphology (e.g. levels of hypsodonty). Simulations of expected errors in body size estimates for fossil taxa suggest that the discrepancies do not result primarily from erroneous body size estimates. It is possible that some of the incongruity in interpretations results from certain non‐analogue attributes of South American faunas during much of the Cenozoic (e.g. the relatively depauperate mammalian predator diversity prior to the Great American Biotic Interchange).     

The extent of extinctions of mammals on islands

Many of the world's oceanic and oceanic-like islands possessed endemic mammal faunas before they were colonized by humans. These faunas, unbalanced and impoverished compared to continental faunas, usually lacked large mammalian carnivores. In virtually all cases, the arrival of humans and their domesticants and commensals on these islands is related to the extirpation of large numbers of endemic insular mammals. These extinction events affected at least 27% of autochthonous mammal species on the world's oceanic and oceanic-like islands. This percentage rises the 35% when volant mammals are excluded. This reduction in the natural biodiversity brought about the disappearance of several unique biological types that apparently never existed on the continents.     

Biostratigraphical dating of Cretaceous coral communities using large data sets

Habitats of hermatypic corals are shallow and turbulent marine environments that often lack biostratigraphic index fossils. For that reason many Cretaceous coral faunas are imprecisely dated or dated only on the basis of comparisons with other coral faunas. Using a large database on the taxonomy, stratigraphical and geographical distribution of corals in the Cretaceous, a method is proposed that will make it possible to specify the stratigraphical age of coral associations on the basis of their specific composition. In this process the stratigraphical range of the species (calculated before from well-dated faunas) is summarized and a probable age of the association proposed. The method does not only help to assess the biostratigraphical age of a fauna, but may also indicate whether a fauna represents an original composition or is a mixed association derived from reworked horizons or olistoliths. The method can be applied to any other group of organisms, provided that the essential data for a comparison are available.