Xiaoli Wang

Linyi University · Department of Earth Sciences

The “opposite birds” Enantiornithines were the dominant birds of the Mesozoic, but our understanding of their ecology is still tenuous. In particular, diets of enantiornithine species have remained speculative until recently. While this new work has been effective at determining diet within groups of enantiornithines, diet data thus far has been to...

The “opposite birds” Enantiornithines were the dominant birds of the Mesozoic, but our understanding of their ecology is still tenuous. In particular, diets of enantiornithine species have remained speculative until recently. While this new work has been effective at determining diet within groups of enantiornithines, diet data thus far has been to...

The “opposite birds” Enantiornithines were the dominant birds of the Mesozoic, but our understanding of their ecology is still tenuous. In particular, diets of enantiornithine species have remained speculative until recently. While this new work has been effective at determining diet within groups of enantiornithines, diet data thus far has been to...

Although it is commonly considered that, in birds, there is a trend towards reduced dentition, teeth persisted in birds for 90 Ma and numerous macroscopic morphologies are observed. However, the extent to which the microstructure of bird teeth differs from other lineages is poorly understood. To explore the microstructural differences of the teeth...

The diet of Mesozoic birds is poorly known, limiting evolutionary understanding of birds’ roles in modern ecosystems. Pengornithidae is one of the best understood families of Mesozoic birds, hypothesized to eat insects or only small amounts of meat. We investigate these hypotheses with four lines of evidence: estimated body mass, claw traditional m...

Morphology of keratinised toe pads and foot scales, hinging of foot joints and claw shape and size all inform the grasping ability, cursoriality and feeding mode of living birds. Presented here is morphological evidence from the fossil feet of early theropod flyers. Foot soft tissues and joint articulations are qualitatively assessed using laser-st...

Modern birds power their flight stroke using chest muscles. This evolved from an ancestral flight system thought to be divided between shoulder muscles powering the upstroke and chest muscles powering the downstroke. This is inferred from bony fossil anatomy and extant comparative anatomy, but validation from preserved soft anatomy has remained elu...

Background Birds are key indicator species in extant ecosystems, and thus we would expect extinct birds to provide insights into the nature of ancient ecosystems. However, many aspects of extinct bird ecology, particularly their diet, remain obscure. One group of particular interest is the bizarre toothed and long-snouted longipterygid birds. Longi...

The extinct family Hylicellidae, as the ancestral group of modern cicadomorphans, had a wide distribution and a very high species-level biodiversity from the Triassic to Early Cretaceous. We herein report 11 new hylicellid specimens from the Jurassic Daohugou beds of Inner Mongolia, NE China, and execute geometric morphometric analysis (GMA) to elu...

Knowledge about the pterosaur diet and digestive system is limited, and there is little direct evidence in the fossil record. Here, we report two specimens of the wukongopterid Kunpengopterus sinensis , a juvenile and an adult, from the Late Jurassic Yanliao Biota of China with associated bromalites. Both of these concentrations are identified as e...

A unique form of melanosomes contributing to brilliant iridescent colors in modern bird feathers, previously unknown in fossil birds, is identified in the Early Cretaceous bird Eoconfuciusornis. The discovery highlights the complexity of plumage color nanostructures utilized early in bird evolution as far back as 130 million years ago.

Reservoirs influence the processes associated with the downstream transportation and deposition of sediments in various sizes of catchments. Patterns of sediment yield from different lithological zones in a catchment can differ greatly. Assessing the historical sources of fine sediment deposited in a reservoir derived from contrasting lithological...

Previous findings on dinosaur cartilage material from the Late Cretaceous of Montana suggested that cartilage is a vertebrate tissue with unique characteristics that favor nuclear preservation. Here, we analyze additional dinosaur cartilage in Caudipteryx (STM4-3) from the Early Cretaceous Jehol biota of Northeast China. The cartilage fragment is h...

Enantiornithes are the most successful group of Mesozoic birds, arguably representing the first global avian radiation,1, 2, 3, 4 and commonly resolved as the sister to the Ornithuromorpha, the clade within which all living birds are nested.1,3 The wealth of fossils makes it feasible to comparatively test evolutionary hypotheses about the pattern a...

The Wukongopteridae is a transitional clade between the long- and short-tailed pterosaur groups, and at least ten specimens have been studied without a determined juvenile specimen. Here, we described a small-sized Kunpengopterus sinensis, less than half the size of the holotype, which is the smallest specimen in wukongopterids. Based on unossified...

The plant-louse subfamily Miralinae, as a bizarre extinct psylloid lineage displaying some unique body structures and wing characteristics, was recently erected on the basis of the monotypic genus Mirala reported in mid-Cretaceous Kachin amber of northern Myanmar. Herein, Burmala liaoyaoi gen. et sp. nov., as the second genus and species of Miralin...

Whiteflies are abundant and highly diverse in mid-Cretaceous Kachin amber, but only three taxa have been reported to date: Burmoselis evelynae and Paraburmoselis kachinensis in the extinct subfamily Bernaeinae, and ‘Aleurodicus’ burmiticus with generic and subfamilial assignment doubtful. A new genus and species, Burmodicus cretaceus gen. et sp. no...

The bizarre scansoriopterygid theropods Yi and Ambopteryx had skin stretched between elongate fingers that form a potential membranous wing. This wing is thought to have been used in aerial locomotion, but this has never been tested. Using laser-stimulated fluorescence imaging, we re-evaluate their anatomy and perform aerodynamic calculations cover...

Soft tissue preservation in fossil birds provides a rare window into their anatomy, function, and development. Here, we present an exceptionally-preserved specimen of Confuciusornis which, through Laser-Stimulated Fluorescence imaging, is identified as preserving a dis-associated rhamphotheca. Reconstruction of the in vivo position of the rhamphoth...

The keratinous beak is inferred to have evolved multiple times in the Archosauria and in Aves. Unfortunately, this feature rarely preserves in the fossil record. Here we examine a collection of 603 specimens belonging to the Confuciusornithiformes, a clade of edentulous basal avians, only two of which preserve visible traces of the rhamphotheca. Pr...

Unseen and difficult-to-see soft tissues of fossil birds revealed by laser-stimulated fluorescence (LSF) shed light on their functional morphology. Here we study a well-preserved specimen of the early pygostylian Sapeornis chaoyangensis under LSF and use the newly observed soft-tissue data to refine previous modeling of its aerial performance and t...

Many specimens of the basal bird Jeholornis from the Early Cretaceous Jehol Biota of northeast China include one or two distinctive paddle-shaped skeletal elements preserved in the thoracic region. These ossifications have generally been identified as lateral trabeculae, paired processes of the sternum that are common within the derived avian clade...

Protopteryx fengningensis is from the 130.7 Ma Huajiying Formation making it one of the oldest known enantiornithines. Contributing to its significance, this taxon is also commonly resolved as the basal-most enantiornithine in phylogenetic analyses. Protopteryx preserves several unusual morphologies that are otherwise absent in the Enantiornithes b...

The true bug family Yuripopovinidae Azar et al., 2011 is documented in the Lower Cretaceous of northeastern China and Lebanon, and mid-Cretaceous Kachin amber of northern Myanmar. Up to now, two remarkable yuripopovinid genera and species with highly specialized morphologies have been reported in Kachin amber. Herein, its third species, Caulisoculu...

The Mesozoic family Procercopidae is widely treated as the ancient group of Cercopoidea and a transitional unit to recent lineages, but its evolution and diversity are vague due to fragmentary fossil record and confusing taxonomic history. Herein, an extensive taxonomic review of Procercopidae is presented and some new fossils are reported from the...

The family Minlagerrontidae, with some extremely unusual or even grotesque morphological characteristics, is a bizarre true hopper lineage recently documented in mid-Cretacoues Kachin amber. Eurypterogerron kachinensis gen. et sp. nov., as the third genus and fifth species of Minlagerrontidae, is herein described and illustrated from Kachin amber....

The bizarre scansoriopterygid theropods Yi and Ambopteryx had skin stretched between elongate fingers that form a potential membranous wing. This wing is thought to have been used in aerial locomotion, but this has never been tested. Using laser-stimulated fluorescence imaging, we re-evaluate their anatomy and perform aerodynamic calculations cover...

Assessing the effects of dam construction on nutrient deposition in small catchments is important to our understanding of the influence of dam interception on downstream nutrient transport as well as of the link between nutrient loss from sloping land and the eutrophic status of large rivers. This study investigates the effect of dam construction o...

The Mesozoic hemipteran family Archijassidae, known from the Late Triassic to the Early Cretaceous, is recorded as the ancestral group of mega-diverse leaf- and treehoppers. On the basis of a fossil contained in Kachin amber from the lowermost Upper Cretaceous of northern Myanmar, we herein erect a remarkably new taxon, Formosixinia aeterna Chen &...

The recently erected family Minlagerrontidae, with a series of extremely unusual or even grotesque morphological features, is a bizarre Clypeata group known from the mid-Cretaceous Kachin amber in northern Myanmar. The hitherto known minlagerrontids are ascribed to two species within one genus (Minlagerron). We here report a new genus and species o...

Direct indicators of diet and predator-prey relationships are exceedingly rare in the fossil record [1, 2]. However, it is through such traces that we can best understand trophic interactions in ancient ecosystems [3], confirm dietary inferences derived from skeletal morphologies [4], and clarify behavioral and ecological interpretations [5]. Here,...

Although the extinct hemipteran Sinoalidae is well documented in the mid-Cretaceous Kachin amber of northern Myanmar, its adults with female organs preserved remain unknown. We herein report three female sinoalids: two specimens trapped in one amber piece are attributed to Fangyuania xiai, and the third representing the new genus and species Mesolo...

Medium‐sized catchments exhibit different patterns of sediment yield than small catchments and large river basins, taking scale dependency into account, and play an important role in linking soil loss from upstream areas with downstream sediment transportation over larger spatial scales than small catchments. Few studies have used reservoir deposit...

Cercopoidea is a diverse insect group, but its early evolution, disparity and ecology remain unclear. Juroala daohugouensis Chen & Wang gen. et sp. nov., from the Middle–Upper Jurassic of north-eastern China, is established herein and described on the basis of 42 whole-bodied fossils, representing a new subfamily, Juroalinae subfam. nov. of the pri...

The Mesozoic froghopper family Sinoalidae was reported from the uppermost Middle–lowermost Upper Jurassic Daohugou Biota and coeval strata of northeastern China, and mid-Cretaceous Kachin amber of northern Myanmar. Herein, a remarkably new sinoalid froghopper, Ornatiala amoena Chen, Wang and Zhang, gen. et sp. nov., is reported from Kachin amber. T...

During the dinosaur–bird transition, feathers of bird ancestors must have been molecularly modified to become biomechanically suitable for flight. We report molecular moieties in fossil feathers that shed light on that transition. Pennaceous feathers attached to the right forelimb of the Jurassic dinosaur Anchiornis were composed of both feather β-...

As the most diversified organismal group, insects evolved countless structural innovations, and some unique ones have vanished in their geological history. We herein report a new true hopper family Minlagerrontidae Chen, Szwedo and Wang fam. nov. with two new species (Minlagerron griphos Chen, Szwedo and Wang gen. et sp. nov. and Minlagerron onyxos...

Significance Archaeorhynchus spathula is a basal member of the Ornithuromorpha, the lineage that includes neornithines. Although this is the fifth reported specimen, unlike the others it preserves significant soft tissue, revealing a tail morphology previously unknown in Mesozoic birds and an exceptional occurrence of fossilized lung tissue. This i...

Yi qi is a scansoriopterygid theropod dinosaur represented by a single ~160-million-year-old specimen (STM 31-2; Shandong Tianyu Museum) that preserves many peculiar anatomies. STM 31-2 sports paintbrush-like filamentous feathers and forelimbs associated with elongated, rod-like ‘styliform elements’ thought to support patagial membranes. The strang...

Birds have a highly specialized and efficient digestive system, but when this system originated remains uncertain. Here we report six gastric pellets attributable to the recently discovered 160-million-year-old troodontid dinosaur Anchiornis, which is among the key taxa for understanding the transition to birds. The gastric pellets contain lightly...

Evidences for tooth replacement of known euharamiyidans are reported based on eight specimens of four species from the Jurassic Yanliao Biota, Liaoning Province, China. Tooth morphologies, eruptional and wear condition, and tooth germs are directly observed and/or revealed by Micro CT or slab CL scan. The euharamiyidan dentition has definite number...

In this study, we use reservoir deposits to reconstruct sediment yields over the past 50 years from the Quananzi catchment, a small limestone catchment in the Yimeng Mountain region, China. Three sediment cores were collected from the reservoir, and the chronology of each core was established using ¹³⁷Cs and ²¹⁰Pbex dating. The area-specific sedime...

Molecular estimates of the divergence of placental and marsupial mammals and their broader clades (Eutheria and Metatheria, respectively) fall primarily in the Jurassic period. Supporting these estimates, Juramaia-the oldest purported eutherian-is from the early Late Jurassic (160 million years ago) of northeastern China. Sinodelphys-the oldest pur...

Representatives of the froghopper family Sinoalidae were exclusively known from Jurassic deposits in northeastern China. A new taxon, Fangyuania xiai Chen, Szwedo and Wang, gen. et sp. nov., is erected from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber and assigned to this family. The remarkable new sinoalid distinctly differs from its con-familial Jurassic relativ...

Many newly-discovered dinosaur tracksites have recently been reported from the Lower Cretaceous Dasheng Group of Shandong Province. These are proving valuable as tools for characterizing the fauna in deposits almost devoid of body fossils. Here we report on a new Cretaceous site, the 14th documented in recent years, with multiple track-bearing leve...

STM35-3 from the Yixian Formation is the only Early Cretaceous ornithuromorph preserving direct evidence of granivory. The crop contains numerous seeds and the preservation of gastroliths presumably within the ventriculus indicates this diet was paired with the presence of a gastric mill as in living granivorous birds. STM35-3 was originally referr...

The use of drones in the exploration and documentation of track surfaces in steep terrain, otherwise only accessible by time intensive climbing activity, is tested. Location is the Nanquan site, one of many now known footprint localities from the Lower Cretaceous Dasheng Group that has been recently exposed by local industrial excavation. It reveal...

The Sinoalidae, as one of the three Mesozoic froghopper families, was recently recognized from the latest Middle - earliest Late Jurassic Daohugou Biota of northeastern China. We herein report some new materials from the same horizon and locality, providing some new insights on morphological diversity and evolution of this family. Shufania hani new...

The Qingquan dinosaur tracksite, from the Lower Cretaceous Dasheng Group, Shandong Province, China adds to the growing record of saurischian-dominated ichnofaunas of the region. The site reveals the presence of avian theropods (Koreanaornis) and non-avian theropods tentatively referred to Jialingpus. Sauropod tracks are referred to Brontopodus. One...

Information on recent changes in sediment yields from small catchments provides a better understanding of temporal trends in soil loss from certain physical and human-influenced landscapes that have been subjected to recent environmental changes, and will help bridge the current knowledge gap that exists between hillslope erosion and sediment trans...

Body shape is a fundamental expression of organismal biology, but its quantitative reconstruction in fossil vertebrates is rare. Due to the absence of fossilized soft tissue evidence, the functional consequences of basal paravian body shape and its implications for the origins of avians and flight are not yet fully understood. Here we reconstruct t...

Supplementary Figures, Supplementary Tables, Supplementary Notes and Supplementary References

We report on an exceptional specimen of Eoconfuciusornis preserving rare soft-tissue traces of the ovary and wing. Ovarian follicles preserve a greater hierarchy than observed in Jeholornis and enantiornithines, suggesting confuciusornithiforms evolved higher rates of yolk deposition in parallel with the neornithine lineage. The preserved soft tiss...

Pterosaurs are extinct flying reptiles, the first vertebrates to achieve powered flight. Our understanding of the evolutionary transition between basal, predominantly long-tailed forms to derived short-tailed pterodactyloids remained poor until the discovery of Wukongopterus and Darwinopterus in western Liaoning, China. In this paper we report on a...

We provide a complete description of the skeletal anatomy of the holotype of Chiappeavis magnapremaxillo, the first enantiornithine to preserve a rectricial fan, suggesting that possibly rectricial bulbs were present in basal members of this clade. Notably, Chiappeavis preserves a primitive palatal morphology in which the vomers reach the premaxill...

Tettigarctidae is the most primitive family of Cicadoidea, with only two relict species. Although they are relatively well known from Eurasia, Australia, Africa, and South America, their Mesozoic examples are typically preserved only as isolated forewings. Herein, a new genus Sanmai Chen, Zhang, and B. Wang with three new species (Sanmai kongi Chen...

Here we describe the well-preserved skull of a juvenile specimen of Sapeornis, STM 16-18. Only the tail and hindlimb plumage of this specimen have been previously described. It preserves what we consider to be the complete dentition of Sapeornis with four premaxillary teeth, three maxillary teeth and two tiny dentary teeth on each side, the latter...

Significance We report fossil evidence of feather structural protein (beta-keratin) from a 130-My-old basal bird ( Eoconfuciusornis ) from the famous Early Cretaceous Jehol Biota, which has produced many feathered dinosaurs, early birds, and mammals. Multiple independent molecular analyses of both microbodies and associated matrix recovered from th...