Table of Content

15 December 2000, Volume 38 Issue 04

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IMPORTANT FEATURES OF CAUDIPTERYX- EVIDENCE FROM TWO NEARLY COMPLETE NEW SPECIMENS

ZHOU Zhong-He, WANG Xiao-Lin, ZHANG Fu-Cheng, XU Xing

2000, 38(04):  241-254. 

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Two nearly complete specimens of Caudipteryx preserved a lot more new information about its skeletal anatomy. It has some unexpected bird characters such as the manual digital format of “2-3-2” as in advanced birds rather than the previously recognized “2-3-4” as in Archaeopteryx, Confuciusornis and most theropods, the ungula of the third manual digit is lost; in the skull the nasal opening is larger than the antorbital fenestra, the tail is composed of 22 unfused caudals, there exist only 9 dorsal vertebrae, there are about 12 cervical vertebrae. On the other hand, both new specimens corfirm that the pubis of Caudipteryx is antero-ventrally rather than posteriorly oriented; the fibula contacts the calcaneum; the quadratojugal contacts both the squamosal and the quadrate. The teeth of Caudipteryx are restricted to the premaxilla in all known specimens. The scapula is expanded at the distal end. The coracoid has a prominent biceps tubercle and possesses an elliptic supracoracoid foramen. Both new specimens appear to confirm that the first metatarsal articulates with the postern-medial surface of the second metatarsal and the hallux of the foot is at least partially reversed, therefore suggesting that the ancestor of Caudipteryx had probably possessed the arboreal capability. The reduction of the third manual digit in Caudipteryx also provides further evidence for the homology of the three manual digits in birds and theropod dinosaurs although the reduction of the third digit had obviously appeared many times in the history of dinosaurs and birds. Although Caudipteryx is still accepted as a feathered dinosaur, its newly discovered remarkable bird-like characters probably indicate that its phylogenetic position remains a debatable issue.

MICROMAMMAL FOSSILS FROM RED MUDSTONE OF LOWER MEMBER OF XIANSHUIHE FORMATION IN LANZHOU BASIN, CHINA

WANG Ban-Yue, QIU Zhan-Xiang

2000, 38(04):  255-273. 

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This paper deals with all the micromammal fossils other than those of dipodids (Wang & Qiu, 2000). They are sampled from the red mudstone of the Lower Member (lower red mudstone) of the Xianshuihe Formaüon. They were found in Xiagou (GL 9513), Shangxigou (GL 9601) in the middle part of the lower red mudstone and Qujiachuan (9707, 9712) in the lower part of the lower red mudstone. Most of the fossils were collected by screening washing.

LATE MIOCENE-EARLY PLIOCENE BIOSTRATIGRAPHY OF LOC. 93002 SECTION, LINGTAI, GANSU

ZHANG Zhao-Qun, ZHENG Shao-Hua

2000, 38(04):  274-286. 

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Summary can be seen in PDF.

INSECTIVORE, DIPODOIDEAN AND LAGOMORPH FROM THE MIDDLE MIOCENE QUANTOUGOU FAUNA OF LANZHOU, GANSU

QIU Zhu-Ding

2000, 38(04):  287-302. 

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Summary can be seen in PDF.

A NEW EARLY EOCENE CTENODACTYLOID RODENT (RODENTIA, MAMMALIA) AND THE ASSOCIATE) MAMMALIAN FOSSILS FROM DANJIANGKOU, HUBEI

GUO Jim-Wei, WANG Yuan, YANG Xue-An

2000, 38(04):  303-313. 

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The Eocene mammalian fossils, Hannanomys lini gen. et sp. nov., Rodentia incertae sedis, and Rhombomylus cf. R turpanensis are described here. They were excavated from Leibei, the first Eocene fossil site recognized on the southem bank of Hanjiang River in Liguanqiao Basin, Hubei Province of China (Huang et al., 1996).

PLACODONT (REPTILIA: PLACODONTIA) FROM UPPER TRIASSIC OF GUZHOU, SOUTHWEST CHINA

Ll Chun

2000, 38(04):  314-317. 

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Based on an articulated skeleton, a new genus and species of cyamodontoid placodont Sinocyamodus xinpuensis is erected. As the first placodont discovered in China (Guanling, Guizhou Province), S. xinpuensis was collected from the first member of the Wayao Formation, which was considered to be the early Late Triassic. The diagnosis of the new genus and species could be generalized as following: Relatively small cyamodontoid placodont; orbital distinctly elongated (the raüo of the longitudinal diameter of the upper temporal fossa to that of the orbit is 1.23); rostrum short and rounded; premaxilla with 3 bulbous teeth; carapace does not cover pectoral and pelvic girdiles; limbs and tail covered with osteoderms; humerus with a distinct and distally notched ectepicondylar groove; entepicondylar foramen absent; phalangeal formula in manus 2—3—4—4—3(2—3—4—4—?2 in pes). For a long time the distribution of placodonts has been restricted to coastal stretches of westem periphery of the Triassic Tethys and epicontinental seas of central Europe. Traditionally this group was considered to have originated from the Germanic Basin at the end of the Early Triassic, and then spread to western periphery of the Triassic Tethys. The early existence of cyamodontoid in the lower Anisian of Israel raises the question of whether placodonts reached Europe from the east or outspread from Europe toward the east. Rieppel (1995) proposed an eastern rather than a western Tethyan center of the origin of the Sauropterygia, including the placodonts and the eosauropterygia and further explained their fossil distribution by an eastward expansion into the eastern Pacific Province and a westward expansion into the western Tethyan Province, The discovery of S xinpuensis in southwestern China represents the first occurrence of placodonts in eastern Tethyan Province, where more forms are expected to be discovered from older deposits. Until now, all major groups of Triassic marine reptiles including nothosaurs, ichthyosaurs (Li, 1999) and thalattosaurs (Rieppel et al., 2000) in western Tethys are mirror-imaged in southwestern China. The South China block, which is geographically situated between the western Tethyan and the eastern Pacific domains may put up mixed faunal affinities of both trans-Pacific and western-Tethyan. Based on vertebrate fossils the relationship to trans-Pacific fauna was weakly supported by some fragmentary materials from southem China and Wyoming (Rieppel, 1999), and the western-Tethyan relationship appeared to be much better supported by this new fauna, especially the cyamodontoid placodont described above, which has not been found in northern America by far. This comparability indicates that there was a lot faunal interchange between the west Tethy and southwest China in the early Late Triassic.

A PRIWTIVE ORNITHOPOD FROM THE EARLY CRETACEOUS YIXIAN FORMATION OF LIAONING

XU Xing, WANG Xiao-Lin, YOU Hai-Lu

2000, 38(04):  318-325. 

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A new ornithopod dinosaur is named and described on the basis of two specimens from the Early Cretaceous Yixian Formation at Lujiatun Locality, Liaoning Province, China. Diagnostic features of this new ornithopod include six premaxillary teeth，a few foramina on the dorsal surface of the n，a large quadrate foramen on the lateral side of the quadratojugal, lack of external mandibular fenestra, predentary about 1.5 times as long as the premaxillary main body, anterior intercondylar groove of the femur absent, metatarsals not in the same plane, pedal phalanx 111—4 longer than other phalanges of pedal digit Ill. The discovery of a new ornithopod from the Yixian Formation increases the diversity of the Jehol fauna.