Table of Content

15 December 2006, Volume 44 Issue 04

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A new species of the thalattosaur genus Anshunsaurus (Reptilia: Thalattosauria) from the Middle Triassic of Guizhou Province, southwestern China

Olivier RIEPPEL, LIU Jun, LI Chun

2006, 44(04):  285-296. 

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A new species of the thalattosaur genus Anshunsaurus is described from the Zhuganpo Member of the Falang Formation, Ladinian. It differs from the geologically younger Anshunsaurus huangguoshuensis (from the Wayao Member of the Falang Formation, lower Carnian) in many morphological characteristics as well as in a smaller size at adult stage. Both occurrences are in the marine Triassic of southwestern Guizhou Province, China.

STATISTIC ANALYSIS OF THE TARSOMETATARSUS MORPHOLOGY OF MESOZOIC BIRDS FROM WESTERN LIAONING, CHINA AND ITS IMPLICATIONS

Zhang Yuguang, Tian Xiaoyang

2006, 44(04):  297-306. 

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The tarsometatarsus is an important component of the avian hindlimb. It is well known that the morphology of avian tarsometatarsus is a useful indicator of the locomotion and habit of a bird. This paper focuses on the morphology of the distal tarsometatarsus of birds. The tarsometatarsi of 154 specimens of living birds belonging to 15 orders were measured although over 200 specimens were examined. Statistic analysis of the morphology of the distal tarsometatarsus of extant birds was conducted. Correlation analysis and factor analysis indicated that two principal components were derived with each comprising 3 variables. The first principal component include the width of metatarsal trochlea II, III and IV; and the second principal component includes the relative height and anterior projection of metatarsal trochlea II compared to that of III, and relative anterior projection of metatarsal trochlea IV compared to that of III. Statistic analysis of these 6 variables showed that they could be used to well distinguish arboreal and terrestrial birds. In this paper, 4 variables of the distal tarsometatarsus were also collected from 25 specimens of fossil birds belonging to 14 genera of Early Cretaceous birds from Western Liaoning in China. Analyses of these variables have also proven to be useful in distinguishing arboreal and terrestrial birds, and the result is generally consistent with a conclusion reached on the basis of other analysis, i.e. those based on the claw geometry and toe proportion. 

EOMYIDS (MAMMALIA: RODENTIA) FROM THE LATE MIOCENE LUFENG AND YUANMOU HOMINOID LOCALITIES, YUNNAN

QIU Zhuding 

2006, 44(04):  307-319. 

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The material which forms the basis of this study was collected from two hominoid localities, Shihuiba of Lufeng and Leilao of Yuanmou, in Yunnan Province in the last twenty years. Five forms of eomyid rodents, Plesieomys mirabilis gen. et sp. nov., Heteroeomys yunnanensis gen. et sp. nov., Leptodontomys pusillus sp. nov., Leptodontomys sp. and Eomyidae gen. et sp. indet. are now recognized in the two late Miocene faunas. Morphologically, Plesieomys n. gen. shows some similarities to Pseudadjidaumo Lindsay, 1972 of North America, but the phylogenetic relationship of the new genus to the American genus is uncertain. Heteroeomys exhibits a mixture of primitive and advanced dental features of bunodont eomyids and might be descended from an early Eomys species. Leptodontomys pusillus is characterized by its smaller size, weaker developed lingual anteroloph on M1/2, narrow anterolophid and poor mesolophid and hypolophid on m1/2. The eomyid record in Yunnan indicates that eomyid rodents are a wide-ranging family in Asia, and that forested habitats are preferred more by eomyids with bunodont cheek-teeth than by eomyids with lophodont cheek-teeth.

The Plio-Pleistocene small Mammals from Donggou section of Nihewan Basin, Hebei, China

Zheng Shaohua, Cai Baoquan, Li Qiang

2006, 44(04):  320-331. 

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Summary can be seen in PDF.

Early Pleistocene Ruminants (Mammals) from the Dajushan, Huainan, Anhui province (China)

Dong Wei

2006, 44(04):  332-346. 

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A karstic cave called Laodong with rich late Miocene mammals was found in 1990 in the Dajushan（117°01 'E, 32°35 'N）area，15km northwest of Huainan City，Anhui Province in eastern China (Jin et al., 1999; Jin, 2004). During the implementation of the State Key Project of the 9 th " Five-year-plan " Jin and colleagues found two other fossil localities. One of them is located in a fissure called Xiliexi (it means West Fissure in Chinese) and about 60 m west of the Laodong Cave. Many mammal fossils were unearthed from the fissure deposits. 4 species of ruminants were identified as below.

Hesperotherium sinense, a Chalicothere (Perissodactyla，Mammalia) from the Early Pleistocene Liucheng Gigantopithecus Cave

Tong Haowen

2006, 44(04):  347-365. 

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The Gigantopithecus Cave in Liucheng, Guangxi, is a very well-known locality bearing lich Gigantopithecus materials and important Early Pleistocene mammalian fauna. Three mandibles and more than one thousand of isolated teeth of Gigantopithecus were recovered in the cave. Most of the fossil materials have been studied and published, such as Gigantopithecus (Woo, 1962) Equidae (Pei, 1961), Carnivora, Proboscidea and Rodentia (Pei, 1987), Artiodactyla (Han, 1987) and part materials of tapirids (Tong, 2005). But the materials of Rhinocerotidae and the Chalicotheridae remain unstudied. The chalicothere materials from the Gigantopithecus Cave are the richest among the Quaternary localities in China, which includes 29 isolated teeth and one upper molar series (See Table 1).