Table of Content

15 June 1995, Volume 33 Issue 02

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THE GEOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF SINACANTHUS FROM TARIM, CHINA

Liu Shifan

1995, 33(02):  85-98. 

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Sinacanthus wuchangensis was erected by P 'an Kiang (Jiang) in 1957 on some fin spines from Wuchang, Hubei Province. Seven years later, more than 10 fin spines of Sinacanthus wuchangensis from Devonian System (?) of Wuchang were studied again by the same author, and the characters of Sinacanthus were analyzed thoroughly. Subsequently, similar fin spine fossils were discovered one after another in the middle-lower reachs of the Yangtze River (Yangtze region), such as Sinacanthus of Jiujiang, Jiangxi Province (Li et al., 1966); Sinacanthus fancunensis from Tangjiawu Formation of Ningguo, S. Anhui (Liu, 1973); Sinacanthus wuchangensis, Smacanthus triangulatus, Sinacanthus fancunensis from Guodingshan Formation of Hanyang (Pan et al., 1975) and Sinacanthus cf. wuchangensis from Fentou Formation of Puxi, Chongyang, Hubei Province (Li, 1978; 1980); Sinacanthus sp. from Fentou Formation of Chaoxian, Anhui Province (Wang et al., 1980); Acanthodii fron Rongxi Formation of Dayong, NW Hunan (Zeng, 1988) etc.. The Sinacanthus fossil localities were restricted to the Yangtze region before the discovery of the Tarim fossils. They used to be referred to as Devonian or Early Devonian in age, but later discoveries have demostrated that the age of Sinacanthus-bearing beds should be Silurian (Li, 1980). In 1988, five Sinacanthus fossil beds were found in the Tataertag Formation of Kalping, NW Tarim and the age of the Tataertag Formation was considered MiddleLate Silurian (Table 2). In the summer of 1992, Wang Junqing, Zhu Min and the author of this paper found a lot of fossil fin spines in both Kalping and Bachu, NW Tarim. Some of them were preseved together with agnathans Hanyangaspis etc..Most of these fin spine specimens were collected from Imogantau Formation of Bachu.

DISCOVERY OF A NEW ENANTIORNITHINE BIRD FROM THE EARLY CRETACEOUS OF LIAONING, CHINA

Zhou Zhonghe

1995, 33(02):  99-113. 

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In September 1990, I collected three bird specimens from the Early Cretaceous of Liaoning, China. Among them, the best one (V 9769) has been published and named Cathayornis yandica (Zhou et al., 1992); the second (V 9941), with only a sternum impression, has not been referred to any known taxa yet; and the third (V9770), an incompletely articulated individual, is significantly different from either Cathayornis and Chaoyangia (Hou et Zhang, 1993) from the same site or any other known Early Cretaceous birds. The third specimen is described here as a new genus and species: Boluochia zhengi, and further referred to Enantiornithes as at least four enantiornithine synapomorphies can be recognized in this specimen: (1) intercondylar fossa of tibiotarsus narrow, medial condyle of tibiotarsus with fairly flat anterior margin in distal view; (2) metatarsus IV reduced; (3) slender lateral process of sternum with expanded distal end; and (4) presence of a peculiar dorsal process on proximal ischium. Boluochia is believed to be a new enantiornithine bird from the Early Cretaceous of China, since Cathayornis from the same site had previously been proposed to be included in Enantiornithes (Zhou, in press). Boluochia is distinguished from Cathayornis in many respects, such as (l) skull with hooked bill; (2) presence of a concave surface between main body and nasal process of premaxilla; (3) lateral process of sternum only slightly expanded distally; (4) trochanter of femur relatively developed; and (5) trochleas for digits 2—4 close in height. Finally, comparisons between Boluochia and extant birds in the skull and hindlimb structures also indicate that Boluochia is probably a bird with not only strong perching capability but also somewhat raptorial habit, although the primitiveness of many of its structures rules out the possibility of its being a raptorial bird in strict modern sense.

A NEW ZHELESTID (MIXOTHERIDIA, MAMMALIA) FROM THE PALEOCENE OF QIANSHAN, ANHUI

Wang Yuanqing

1995, 33(02):  114-137. 

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During the fieldwork in the past several years, a great number of Paleocene mammals were collected from Qianshan Basin in Anhui Province. Of all the mammalian fossils recovered in recent years, only some of a few taxa, e.g. Anagalidae and Pantodonta, have been described (Hu, 1993; Wang, 1993; Wang et al., 1992). Here described specimens, a pair of lower jaws and two fragments of one left maxilla of the same individual, were found from the lower part of Upper Member of Wanghudun Formation (Middle Paleocene) in the summer of 1993 and probably represent a mixotheridian. In this paper, the five premolar mode for primitive eutherian dentition (see McKenna, 1975; Novacek, 1986b) is adopted during the description and comparison. P 4 and P 5 of Kennalestes, Asioryctes, Zalambdalestes, Barunlestes, Praolestes, palaeoryctids and leptictids narrated in comparison section of the present paper are respectively corresponding to P 3 and P4 in original description of these genera. The measurements of teeth were made under the Wild M 7 A microscope by following Novacek's (1976) method.

A NEW PRIMITIVE CHALICOTHERE (PERISSODACTYLA, MAMMALIA) FROM THE EARLY EOCENE OF HUBEI, CHINA

Wang Yuan

1995, 33(02):  138-159. 

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A new material of perissodactyl represented by a crushed skull and the same individual's pair of mandibles (both lost their posterior parts) is described in this paper. The specimen was collected in 1992 by Dr. Wang Yuanqing of IV PP from the late Early Eocene of Danjiangkou, Hubei, China. This new material, Daniiangia pingi gen. et SP. nov., is here referred to Chalicotherioidea and recognized as the earliest known chalicothere. Several relevant issues, such as the early character evolution of chalicothere group, the possible close relationship between chalicothere and palaeothere group and the origin of chalicotheres, will also be tentatively discussed in the present paper.

BIOMECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF DINOSAUR EGGSHELLS (111) ——THE MECHANIC ANALYSIS OF THE BABY DINOSAURS' EMERGING FROM THEIR EGGS

Ma Hezhong, She Dewei , Zhao Zikui

1995, 33(02):  160-167. 

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Summary can be seen in PDF.