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    20 January 2020, Volume 58 Issue 1
    New material of thelodonts from Lochkovian (Lower Devonian) of Qujing, Yunnan, China
    CUI Xin-Dong, LI Qiang, ZHU Min, ZHU Min
    2020, 58(1):  1-15.  DOI: 10.19615/j.cnki.1000-3118.190612
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    We reconstructed a wealth of three-dimensional virtual models of vertebrate micro-remains from the Xitun Formation and lower part of the Xishancun Formation (Lochkovian, Lower Devonian) of Qujing, Yunnan by means of high-resolution computed tomography. One genus (Parathelodus) and seven species (P. trilobatus, P. asiaticus, P. cornuformis, P. scitulus, P. xitunensis sp. nov., P. wangi sp. nov. and P. liaokuoensis sp. nov.) of thelodonts are described. The new discovery extends the stratigraphic distribution of Parathelodus from the Xitun Formation and the upper part of the Xishancun Formation to the lower part of the Xishancun Formation, the horizon close to the Silurian-Devonian boundary. The three new species, P. xitunensis, P. wangi and P. liaokuoensis, enhance our knowledge of the thelodont diversity from the Early Devonian of China.

    Pareiasaur and dicynodont fossils from upper Permian of Shouyang, Shanxi, China
    YI Jian, LIU Jun
    2020, 58(1):  16-23.  DOI: 10.19615/j.cnki.1000-3118.191121
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    Chinese Permian tetrapods have been studied for decades. Many dicynodont fossils were reported from Xinjiang and Nei Mongol, only several pareiasaur species were reported in Shanxi (North China), where no dicynodonts have been reported. In this paper, a pareiasaur specimen and a dicynodont specimen are reported from the Shangshihezi Formation and the Sunjiagou Formation of Shouyang, Shanxi respectively. The pareiasaur specimen is more similar to Honania than Shihtienfenia based on iliac morphology. This suggests that the element of the Jiyuan Fauna (Honania Assemblage Zone) also occurs in the Shangshihezi Formation of Shanxi. The dicynodont fossil, an incomplete skull, is referred to Cryptodontia, and is probably the first representative of a new subclade within Cryptodontia in China.

    First report of immature feathers in juvenile enantiornithines from the Early Cretaceous Jehol avifauna
    Jingmai K. O’CONNOR, Amanda FALK, WANG Min, ZHENG Xiao-Ting
    2020, 58(1):  24-44.  DOI: 10.19615/j.cnki.1000-3118.190823
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    Molting—the process replacing one plumage with another—is a critically important biological function in Aves. This process annually replaces the feather coat, damaged by normal wear and tear, produces ontogenetic changes in feathering, and produces alternate breeding plumages associated with reproductive activity in adults. Immature, growing feathers are encased in a keratinous sheath, giving them a narrow, tubular, and featureless appearance. The complete loss of the sheath indicates the feather is mature. Despite the wealth of integumentary data published from the Jehol Biota, immature feathers have never been definitively reported, although they may potentially be preserved in a juvenile specimen of the non-avian oviraptorosaur theropod dinosaur Similicaudipteryx from the 120 Ma Jiufotang Formation. A developing feather has been reported in a 99 Ma enantiornithine neonate preserved in Burmese amber, in which three-dimensional preservation makes interpretations of integumentary structures more straightforward. Here we report on probable immature feathers in four juvenile enantiornithines (Aves: Ornithothoraces) from the Jehol Group. As observed in developing feathers in extant birds, the purported immature fossil feathers appear proximally narrow and featureless with barbs protruding only distally. Based on our observations, we suggest that similar-appearing feather structures preserved on the manus and tibiotarsus in the holotype of the enantiornithine Cruralispennia multidonta may alternatively be interpreted as immature feathers. The presence of immature feathers in combination with sexually dimorphic ornamental feathers in juvenile enantiornithines suggests the complex molting patterns of Neornithes, in which such ornaments only appear after several years (following several molts) when reproductive activity is achieved, are limited to a subset of crownward avians.

    New gobiconodontid (Eutriconodonta, Mammalia) from the Lower Cretaceous Shahai and Fuxin formations, Liaoning, China
    KUSUHASHI Nao, WANG Yuan-Qing, LI Chuan-Kui, JIN Xun
    2020, 58(1):  45-66.  DOI: 10.19615/j.cnki.1000-3118.190724
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    Eutriconodontans are one of the key members of mammals to our understanding of the evolution and transition of mammalian fauna in Asia during the Cretaceous. Two gobiconodontid and two triconodontid species have previously been reported from the upper Lower Cretaceous Shahai and Fuxin formations. Here we describe two additional eutriconodontans from the formations, Fuxinoconodon changi gen. et sp. nov. and ?Gobiconodontidae gen. et sp. indet. This new species is attributed to the Gobiconodontidae, characterized by having an enlarged first lower incisor, reduction in the number of incisors and premolariforms, proportionally large cusps b and c being well distant from cusp a on the molariforms, presence of a labial cingulid, and a unique mixed combination of molariform characters seen on either the first or the second, but not both, generations of molariforms in Gobiconodon. Together with the four known species, eutriconodontans remained diverse to some extent in the late Early Cretaceous in Asia, although their family-level and generic level diversity appears to have been already reduced at that time.

    Cladistic approach on chronological relationship of the Pleistocene mammalian faunas from China
    DONG Wei, LIU Wen-Hui, BAI Wei-Peng
    2020, 58(1):  67-81.  DOI: 10.19615/j.cnki.1000-3118.190525
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    There are many localities yielding the Pleistocene mammalian faunas in China. It offers excellent material for the study of mammalian evolution, biochronology, paleoecology, paleoenvironment, paleozoogeography, etc. Faunal assemblage characters and taxonomic extinction rates were widely used for determining the faunal ages in biochronology. Faunal binary similarity coefficients sequenced according to Brainerd-Robinson’s rule and antiquity coefficients were further developed methods in biochronology for dating the faunal ages. The faunal binary similarity coefficients are based on the presence or absence of a taxon in a fauna. It is similar to the presence or absence of a character of a species in cladistic analyses for phylogeny, and all faunas have a special ancestor-descendant relationship. The present work is an attempt to find the relationship of the faunas with cladistic methods by selecting three groups of faunas sequenced by faunal binary similarity coefficients according to Brainerd-Robinson’s rule and antiquity coefficients, to compare the results with different methods, and then to estimate the ages of the faunas not yet dated by physical or chemical methods. The estimations are as follow: Gulongshan in Dalian, Liaoning Province: 16-20 ka; Shanchengzi at Benxi, Liaoning Province: 20-30 ka; Hualongdong at Dongzhi Man site, Anhui Province: 150-400 ka; Xinghuashan at Nanzhao Man site, Henan Province: 150-400 ka; Donghe at Luonan Man site, Shaanxi Province: 500-700 ka; Bailongdong at Yunxi Man site, Hubei Province: 500-850 ka; Meipu at Yunxian, Hubei Province: 500-850 ka; Mohui at Tiandong Man site, Guangxi Autonomous Region: 1.2-1.8 Ma; Juyuandong at Liucheng, Guangxi Autonomous Region: 1.2-1.5 Ma; Chutoulang at Chifeng, Nei Mongol Autonomous Region: 1.6-1.9 Ma; Renzidong at Fanchang, Anhui Province: 1.9-2.4 Ma.