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Publications (452)
The early Silurian Chongqing Lagerstätte (middle Telychian) yields exceptionally preserved articulated jawless and jawed fishes. Here, we describe a new eugaleaspiform (Galeaspida, jawless stem-Gnathostomata), Miaojiaaspis dichotomus gen. et sp. nov., from the Chongqing Lagerstätte in Xiushan, Chongqing, China. The new form resembles Tujiaaspis viv...
During the Late Miocene, numerous medium to large-sized herbivores, that resemble the living Ovibos in skeletal morphology, dispersed throughout the Holarctic realm and comprised
Pantodonta was one of the first groups of eutherians to evolve at the beginning of Cenozoic era, including the largest herbivores at that time. Pantodonta shows considerable diversity during the Paleocene and Eocene, with most of the species having been discovered in Asia and North America. Here, we report on a new pantodont, represented by lower j...
X-ray computed tomography (CT) has been an important technology in paleontology for several decades. It helps researchers to acquire detailed anatomical structures of fossils non-destructively. Despite its widespread application, developing an efficient and user-friendly method for segmenting CT data continues to be a formidable challenge in the fi...
Several therocephalian species, mainly represented by cranial material from the late Permian, have been reported from China in recent years. Here we describe a tiny new baurioid therocephalian, Jiucaiyuangnathus confusus gen. et sp. nov., from the Jiucaiyuan Formation, Xinjiang, China. The new taxon is represented by a partial snout with occluded p...
Within the dicynodont genus Turfanodon, there are two recognized species, T. bogdaensis and T. jiufengensis. Both species are known by relatively complete cranial materials, but the mandibles and most postcranial bones have been described only for T. jiufengensis. This paper reports new dicynodont specimens from Turpan, Xinjiang, referring them to...
The Tyrannosauridae, which is characterized by specialized pachydont dentition and putative bone-cracking predatory strategies, is one of the most extensively studied theropod lineages. Although tooth replacement patterns, crucial for understanding feeding behaviors, have been thoroughly studied in this group, studies on non-tyrannosaurid tyrannosa...
Perleididae is a group of stem neopterygian fishes known only from the Triassic. Here, we report the discovery of a new perleidid, Teffichthys wui sp. nov., based on six well-preserved specimens from the late Smithian (Olenekian, Early Triassic) marine deposits of Jurong, Jiangsu and Chaohu, Anhui, China. This new discovery documents the third and...
X-ray computed tomography (CT) has been an important technology in paleontology for several decades. It helps researchers to acquire detailed anatomical structures of fossils non-destructively. Despite its widespread application, developing an efficient and user-friendly method for segmenting CT data continues to be a formidable challenge in the fi...
The inference of Mesozoic avialan bird diets previously relied on traditional methods such as morphological comparisons among taxa and direct evidence such as identifiable stomach contents. However, the application of these approaches has been limited because of uncommon preservation of relevant fossil evidence. We searched for additional informati...
The affinity of 'Dongfangaspis qujingensis', initially assigned to Dongfangaspis but later to Laxaspis, has long been controversial. However, the taxonomical revision raises a new problem of junior homonym since the type species of Laxaspis is L. qujingensis. Here, we describe some new materials of 'Dongfangaspis qujingensis' and Damaspis vartus fr...
Because ancient proteins have a higher preservation potential than ancient DNA, proteomic studies can help shed light on the biology of some extinct biological groups that are beyond the reach of the field of ancient DNA. The oldest peptide discovered so far is part of the protein struthiocalcin (SCA-1) involved in eggshell mineralization and found...
As a small to middle-sized bovid, Hispanodorcas had previously only been found in the pan-Mediterranean region and South Asia. Its taxonomic classification at the tribe level has been a subject of debate, with possible associations to Antilopini, Reduncini, or Oiocerini. Here, we report on the first discovery of Hispanodorcas in East Asia, H. longd...
Here we report a new form of amphicyonid from an uncertain locality in the Linxia Basin. The derived dental traits imply an affinity to Magericyon, previously known from Europe and possibly southern Asia. The specimen suggests a higher diversity of amphicyonids in eastern Asia than previously thought, and more discovery with stratigraphic informati...
Originated in North America in the Middle Eocene, camelids were a successful group with very large diversity. But the camels emigrated to the Old World from North America, probably during the middle stage of the Middle Miocene, and did not radiate much as those in North America, represented by only two genera Paracamelus and Camelus. The former was...
Among numerous marine reptiles discovered in the Triassic eastern Tethys, today's Southern China, Dinocephalosaurus is a bizarre animal comparable to European Tanystropheus in developing a prominently long neck. These two taxa are respectively assigned to Dinocephalosauridae and Tanystropheidae, and the two families and other basal members collecti...
Arthrodira, the most diverse subgroup of placoderms, or jawed stem gnathostomes, is noted for their occupation of high trophic levels, especially in the later stage of their evolutionary history. Despite the relatively complete fossil record of arthrodires, the results of previous studies on the arthrodire diversity, based on counting the numbers o...
We report here a number of mandibular, maxillary and dental fossil remains of Indian Suoidea from the Middle Siwalik of Haritalyangar area in Bilaspur District of Himachal Pradesh, North India. Haritalyangar is well known for the diversity of the Late Miocene fauna and the hominoids and other primates. The suoid remains were collected by one of the...
Trilophodon connexus Hopwood, 1935 has long been considered a typical species of Gomphotherium in China. However, due to the unknown state of the mandibular symphysis and tusks, there is no definite evidence to assign "T. connexus" to Gomphotherium. Here we describe and reevaluate a hemimandible from the Halamagai Formation, Ulungur region, norther...
The Shuitangba subbasin lignite deposits of the Zhaotong Basin in northern Yunnan Province have produced vertebrate fossils of terminal Miocene age. We conducted test wet screening of fossiliferous sediment in 2014 to increase representation of small mammals. This effort produced four teeth of a very large bamboo rat, much larger than the previousl...
Renewed fieldwork in 2003 produced a rich micromammal assemblage from the basal part of the Jiaozigou Formation in the Yagou area of Linxia Basin. 17 genera distributed among 13 families of three orders were recovered. The micromammal fauna is a typical Oligocene assemblage for Central and Eastern Asia. 14 genera (~82% of the fauna) are common in t...
Here we describe an incomplete dinosaur clutch with three broken eggs and seven prints discovered in Wuning County, Jiangxi Province, that can be referred to Coralloidoolithus shizuiwanensis based on the following features: the eggs are nearly spheroid and arranged tightly and irregularly in the clutch, the eggshell thickness ranges 2.76-2.97 mm, t...
New findings of the early Silurian Xiyuichthys (Xiushuiaspidae, Galeaspida), Xiyuichthys lixiensis sp. nov. and X. zhangi are described from the Qingshui Formation in Jiangxi Province and the Tataertag Formation in Tarim Basin respectively. X. lixiensis sp. nov. is characterized by the partially serrated lateral margin of the headshield and the orn...
Bothriolepis sinensis Chi 1940, mainly based on anterior median dorsal plates from the Middle Devonian Tiaomachien Formation of Hunan, is the first Paleozoic vertebrate taxon erected in China. Although additional materials of B. sinensis from the type locality were described by Lu in 1988, its morphology and phylogeny remain poorly understood. In t...
We describe here new dental material from the locality of Myaukse Kyitchaung (Pondaung Formation, central Myanmar) that we refer to the primitive Archaeomerycidae ruminant Paukkaungmeryx minutus Ducrocq et al. (2020). The upper molars are morphologically very similar to those of the holotype and exhibit only slight variations on features like the b...
All the extant rhino species belong to Rhinocerotini and either have one horn (a nasal horn) or two horns (a nasal horn and frontal horn). So far, the earliest Rhinocerotini to have been identified in China is the "Dicerorhinus" cixianensis, which was based on a juvenile skull with an associated mandible from the Middle Miocene locality of Jiulongk...
The previously alleged 'eugnathid amiiform' Sinoeugnathus kueichowensis is a small-sized halecomorph from the Middle Triassic (Ladinian) marine deposits of Guizhou and Yunnan, China. A morphological redescription and taxonomic revision of this taxon are provided based on a detailed examination of the holotype and 15 new specimens. Studies of these...
Abundant mammalian fossils were uncovered during the field exploration for Nihewan beds at the beginning of the 1980s along Xinyaozi Ravine at Nangaoya Township of Tianzhen County, Shanxi Province in North China. But most equid material was not yet described except that of Equus stenonis. Six forms of Nihewanian equids were confirmed from the Xinya...
The Enantiornithes is the most speciose clade of Mesozoic avialans with over 60 named taxa reported from most continents that span the whole Cretaceous. Most of the fossil remains of this clade, as well as those of other early diverging avialans are preserved in two-dimensions. This complicates efforts to extract detailed anatomical information fro...
Chondrocytes with remnants of nuclei and biomolecules were recently reported in two Cretaceous dinosaurs from North America and China. For multiple reasons, it was hypothesized that calcified cartilage (CC) had a better potential than bone to preserve ancient cells. Here we provide the first experimental test to this hypothesis by focusing on the m...
The micromammal fossils collected from the upper part of the Jiaozigou Formation near Mansancun in 2015 are described. The sample consists of 10 species of six previously known genera (Amphechinus, Sinolagomys, Parasminthus, Litodonomys, Heterosminthus and Yindirtemys) belonging to three orders. Of them, four genera (Sinolagomys, Litodonomys, Heter...
The pelvic morphology, and whether the pelvic fin is present or absent in the earliest jawed vertebrates are key in interpreting the origin of vertebrate paired fins. Parayunnanolepis xitunensis, an antiarch placoderm from the Early Devonian of Yunnan, South China, was previously described to possess the earliest evidence of both dermal and endoske...
No definite tetrapod body fossil is known from the Late Triassic of North China. Here we report new tetrapod remains from the Upper Triassic Tanzhuang Formation of Jiyuan, Henan Province. Most of the specimens can be referred to the temnospondyls, and show affinity with Mastodonsaurus. Previously, Mastodonsaurus is only know from Europe. So that, t...
New middle Eocene rodent fossils discovered from the lower part of the Shara Murun Formation of Ula Usu, Erlian Basin, Nei Mongol, China, the classical locality of Sharamurunian mammalian fauna, were identified as 9 separate species (the ctenodactyloids Yuomys cavioides, Gobiomys neimongolensis, G. exiguus, and G. asiaticus, the dipodids Allosminth...
The Lijiang Fauna from the Lijiang Formation of Lijiang, western Yunnan, was dominated by 13 species of perissodactyl fossils, and its age ranged from Irdinmanhan to Sharamurunian Asian Land Mammal Ages (ALMA) according to previous research. Based on reanalysis of some perissodactyls from the Lijiang Fauna, it is suggested here that Rhodopagus yunn...
Vayu 1.0 is a freeware that deals with surface mesh files. It provides a set of tools for rendering, labelling, revisualizing, and reanalyzing meshes. It also offers features for VR mode and one-stop animation production. This paper describes the major features of Vayu 1.0, which includes three main panels, i.e. mesh information, keyframe editor, a...
The saurichthyiform fishes, characterized by a pointed rostrum and a streamlined long and slender body plan, ranked among the top predators of the ichthyofauna in the Early Mesozoic oceanic ecosystem. In a cosmopolitan pattern, these fishes rapidly radiated after the end-Permian mass extinction (EPME) and diversified morphologically and ecologicall...
Nothosaurus luopingensis sp. nov. from Member II of the Guanling Formation (Anisian, Middle Triassic) of Luoping, Yunnan, China is described based on a specimen comprising the skull and most of the postcranial skeleton. The specimen is assigned to Nothosaurus of Eosauropterygia as suggested by a series of skull characters, such as the maxillary too...
An anterior part of skull was recently found near Xiayangwan in Guanghe County, Gansu Province, presumably from the Liushu Formation. The skull represents a new species of Pararhizomys, named as Pararhizomys parvulus. The new species is characterized by: small size, upper molars higher crowned and mesio-lingually hypsodont with sinus deeper than me...
Here we report the first dinosaur eggshells found in the Nanhu Gebi of Hami, including Elongatoolithus elongatus and Ovaloolithus oosp. The discovery of these dinosaur eggs not only enlarge the palaeogeographic distribution of elongtaoolithid and ovaloolithid eggs, but also indicate the geological age of egg-bearing strata to be the end of Late Cre...
Currently, there are still different views regarding the chronology of the Late Cenozoic deposits in the Nihewan Basin, which results from the contradiction between biostratigraphic correlations based on mammalian fossils and magnetostratigraphic dating results. Biostratigraphic correlations indicate that the aeolian red clay exposed in the Sanggan...
Shaanbeikannemeyeria is a common tetrapod from the lower part of the Ermaying Formation of the Ordos Basin, China. There are taxonomical questions surrounding this genus, such as the validity of the genus, and how many species are included within it. Several specimens have been collected since 1978. Shaanbeikannemeyeria first appeared from the top...
A new genus and species of the family Eugaleaspidae (Eugaleaspiformes, Galeaspida), Xitunaspis magnus gen. et sp. nov., is described from the Lower Devonian Xitun Formation in Qujing, Yunnan Province, China. The new genus displays the diagnostic characters of the Eugaleaspidae, including a slit-like median dorsal opening, no inner cornual process,...
Moganopterus zhuiana Lü et al., 2012 was erected as a member of the Boreopteridae, which was questioned by different researchers shortly after the publication. Although the new assignment to the Ctenochasmatidae is widely accepted by pterosaur researchers, some characteristics still require a detailed description. Here, the holotype of this taxon i...
The Early Emsian Event (E'Em Event), the most significant bio-event for Chinese Devonian vertebrates, has significantly impacted on the diversity of galeaspids. The endemic Galeaspida almost became extinct after the Mid-Emsian Event (M'Em Event). Only few galeaspid taxa survived from these events, such as Clarorbis apponomedianus from the Eifelian...
The aardwolf Proteles cristatus is the only known hyaenid, living or extinct, to exhibit an extremely reduced dentition related to its termite-specializing diet. The fossil record of extant aardwolves extends to 2 to 4 million years ago, but records that inform its evolutionary origins are essentially nonexistent. Such circumstance renders it diffi...
Platybelodon is the predominant proboscidean of northern China's Middle Miocene. However, the cranial and cheek tooth morphologies are not clearly diagnosed. In particular, the differential diagnoses between Platybelodon and Gomphotherium have not been comprehensively examined. Here we restudied the cranium previously identified as Gomphotherium sh...
A cuboid specimen collected from the Late Miocene stratum at Qingyang, Gansu, China is described here. The size of the Qingyang specimen is comparatively huge, even larger than the average size of Elasmotherium caucasicum collected from Nihewan, Hebei, China. The morphology of the Qingyang specimen is identical to that of other specimens of Elasmot...
In 1958, a special type of dinosaur egg was discovered in Zhaotuan, Laiyang, Shandong Province, China. Although only a large eggshell fragment was collected, its extremely large thickness indicated that the eggshell fragment represented a new ootaxon. In previous studies, it was named Spheroolithus megadermus and assigned to the oogenus Spheroolith...
Here we describe a partially-preserved dinosaur clutch with twelve nearly complete eggs discovered in Shanggao County, Jiangxi Province that can be assigned to Coralloidoolithus shizuiwanensis. These dinosaur eggs are nearly spheroid in shape, with an average polar axis of 11.8 cm and an average equatorial diameter of 9.8 cm. The eggshell has a max...
An isolated large temnospondyl tooth was discovered from the Middle Triassic Tongchuan Formation, Weibei Oilfield, Ordos Basin, Shaanxi Province of China. Compared with the teeth of crocodylomorphs, plesiosaurs and temnospondyls, the tooth can be referred to temnospondyl based on the following features: the crown is elongated and recurved with a ci...
Robust regional chronostratigraphic framework is the basis of understanding climatic and faunal events in the geologic history. One of the most dramatic faunal turnovers of the past 50 million years in Asia is linked to the Eocene-Oligocene Transition (EOT) at about 34 Ma. However, the chronostratigraphic relationships between faunal modulation and...
The Qaidam Basin is a key area for understanding the paleoenvironmental and faunal history of the Tibetan Plateau. The fossil schizothoracine fish, Hsianwenia wui, evolved extraordinarily thickened bones to adapt to the aridification of the Qaidam Basin during the Pliocene. However, the nature of the bone thickening itself remains elusive. To promo...
Abundant mammalian fossils were uncovered during the field exploration for Nihewan beds at the beginning of the 1980s along Xinyaozi Ravine at Nangaoya Township of Tianzhen County, Shanxi Province in North China and the studied taxa indicate an age of the early Early Pleistocene. Recent studies on the rhino material not yet described show that ther...
Bayesian tip dating is a recently developed method to estimate divergence times and evolutionary rates. It overcomes several drawbacks in traditional stepwise approach. However, it also requires more knowledge about statistics. This paper hierarchically explains the theory and computation in the Bayesian tip-dating approach, and divides the whole p...
The mastodont-grade proboscideans represent an important stage in the evolution of the group, establishing the basic pattern of the evolution of the crown groups of proboscideans. The research on mastodons has a history of more than 400 years. The classification and nomenclature have been revised and changed many times, and the problems in their ev...
Choristoderes were an important clade of semi-aquatic predators that occupied Laurasian freshwater ecosystems from the Middle Jurassic to the Miocene. During the Early Cretaceous, the neochoristodere lineage evolved large size and long snouts, converging on the body plan of modern crocodilians. Here, we describe a new longirostrine choristodere, Me...
Actinopterygii, the largest group of extant vertebrates, includes Cladistia, Actinopteri (Chondrostei plus Neopterygii) and closely related fossil taxa. The extinct genus Pteronisculus belongs to a stem lineage of actinopterygian fishes represented by 11 species from the Early Triassic of Madagascar, Europe and North America, and a single species f...
Here we report a new avian fossil from the Late Miocene Linxia Basin, Northwest China, with exceptional soft-tissue preservation. This specimen preserves parts of cervical vertebrae and tracheal rings that are typically ostrich-like, but cannot be diagnosed at the species level. Therefore, the fossil is referred to Struthio sp. The new specimen was...