Xulong Lai

• Dr.
• Professor (Full) at China University of Geosciences

Background/Objectives: Aurochs (Bos primigenius), one of the earliest and largest herbivores domesticated by humans, were widely distributed in Eurasia and North Africa during the Pleistocene and Holocene. Studies of aurochs in China have focused mainly on the Northeastern region. Previous studies have suggested that haplogroup C is a haplogroup un...

The Coqen area of the Lhasa Terrane, Xizang (Tibet, Southwest China) has provided key evidence for understanding Triassic history in the region. However, the stratigraphic subdivision of the Middle to Upper Triassic remains unclear. Here we present new results on the conodont biostratigraphy at Dibuco, a section in the Lhasa Terrane. Sixteen genera...

Among the many branches of geobiology, molecular palaeontology integrates multidisciplinary theories and methods, and plays an important role in exploring the speciation and evolution of organisms as well as the interaction between organisms and the environment in the geological history. Ancient DNA is one of the main carriers of molecular palaeont...

Actinopterygians (ray-finned fishes) successfully passed through the Permian-Triassic Mass Extinction (PTME) and flourished in the Triassic with diverse feeding specializations and occupation of various trophic levels. Birgeria, one of the largest actinopterygian fish of the Triassic, was characterized by a strong, blunt rostrum and three rows of s...

As one of the representatives of extinct mammals in Late Quaternary, Mammuthus primigenius was widely distributed across middle-to-high latitude regions of Eurasia and North America. In China, it was mainly distributed in the northeast and represented not only the core member of the Mammuthus-Coelodonta fauna in Northern China during the Late Pleis...

Extant Old World camels (genus Camelus) contributed to the economic and cultural exchanges between the East and West for thousands of years.1,2 Although many remains have been unearthed,3,4,5 we know neither whether the prevalent hybridization observed between extant Camelus species2,6,7 also occurred between extinct lineages and the ancestors of e...

The giant deer, widespread in northern Eurasia during the Late Pleistocene, have been classified as western Megaloceros and eastern Sinomegaceros through morphological studies. While Megaloceros's evolutionary history has been unveiled through mitogenomes, Sinomegaceros remains molecularly unexplored. Herein, we generated mitogenomes of giant deer...

Background Woolly rhinoceros ( Coelodonta antiquitatis ) is a typical indicator of cold-stage climate that was widely distributed in Northern Hemisphere during the Middle-Late Pleistocene. Although a plethora of fossils have been excavated from Northern China, their phylogenetic status, intraspecific diversity and phylogeographical structure are st...

Modern baleen whales are unique as large-sized filter feeders, but their roles were replicated much earlier by diverse marine reptiles of the Mesozoic. Here, we investigate convergence in skull morphology between modern baleen whales and one of the earliest marine reptiles, the basal ichthyosauromorph Hupehsuchus nanchangensis, from the Early Trias...

Straight-tusked elephants (genus: Palaeoloxodon) including their island dwarf forms are extinct enigmatic members of the Pleistocene megafauna and the most common Pleistocene elephants after the mammoths. Their taxonomic placement has been revised several times. Using palaeogenomic evidence, previous studies suggested that the European P. antiquus...

As one of the remaining species of Caprinae only found in Asia, serows (Capricornis) and their classification and conservation have received increasing attention in recent years. However, their evolutionary history and population dynamics are not yet clear. To shed light on these topics, we report the first near-complete ancient mitochondrial genom...

Red deer (Cervus elaphus/hanglu/canadensis) are a group of closely-related species that survived through the Last Glacial period in Eurasia and expanded into North America. The evolutionary modes of red deer in Europe through glacial and interglacial cycles have been established relatively well based on both modern and ancient genomes, while the ev...

Steppe bison are a typical representative of the Mid-Late Pleistocene steppes of the northern hemisphere. Despite the abundance of fossil remains, many questions related to their genetic diversity, population structure and dispersal route are still elusive. Here, we present both near-complete and partial mitochondrial genomes, as well as a partial...

Tigers ( Panthera tigris ) are flagship big cats and attract extensive public attention due to their charismatic features and endangered status. Despite this, little is known about their prehistoric lineages and detailed evolutionary histories. Through palaeogenomic analyses, we identified a Pleistocene tiger from northeastern China, dated to beyon...

The South Qinling Belt is a key area for understanding the collisional history of the South China and North China blocks during the Lopingian (late Permian) and Triassic. This paper establishes the first integrated timescale based on conodont biostratigraphy and δ¹³Ccarb records from a continuous end Permian to the end-Early Triassic succession at...

The roe deer (Capreolus spp.) has been present in China since the early Pleistocene. Despite abundant fossils available for detailed morphological analyses, little is known about the phylogenetic relationships of the fossil individuals to contemporary roe deer. We generated near-complete mitochondrial genomes for four roe deer remains from Northeas...

The Bering Land Bridge connecting North America and Eurasia was periodically exposed and inundated by oscillating sea levels during the Pleistocene glacial cycles. This land connection allowed the intermittent dispersal of animals, including humans, between Western Beringia (far northeast Asia) and Eastern Beringia (northwest North America), changi...

The extinct Camelus knoblochi is known as the largest camel in genus Camelus, but its relationship to modern Camelus species remains unclear. In this study, we reported the first mitochondrial and nuclear analyses of seven Late Pleistocene C. knoblochi samples from Northeastern China. We found that they are inseparable to wild Bactrian camel on the...

Both molecular data and archaeological evidence strongly support an African origin for the domestic donkey. Recent genetic studies further suggest that there were two distinct maternal lineages involved in its initial domestication. However, the exact introduction time and the dispersal process of domestic donkeys into ancient China are still unres...

The largest mass extinction since the advent of animals occurred during the Permian-Triassic (P-Tr) transition, ca. 252 Ma, and is commonly attributed to the eruption of the Siberian Traps large igneous province. However, the direct killing mechanism is still debated. In this study, we investigated marine redox conditions of the intermediate water...

Focusing on the Shuixiakou Section (Xikou area, Zhen’an County, Shaanxi Province, southeastern Qinling region, China), the Roadian-Wordian conodonts are investigated. More than 2 000 conodont elements including 6 genera and 14 species have been obtained. Based on these materials, the Guadalupian Jinogondolella nankingensis and J. aserrata zones hav...

Based on a study of 49 conodont and 57 geochemical samples from the Upper Triassic, carbonate-dominated Dengdengqiao Formation, Qinling Basin, China, the Carnian conodonts and carbon isotope records are first reported. Two genera and four species have been identified amongst 87 conodont elements: Mosherella praebudaensis, Mo. longnanensis sp. nov.,...

Mass extinction was commonly considered as the response to interaction between geosystems, and volcanism can be viewed as a vital link between the surface systems and deep geodynamic processes. This causative link between end-Guadalupian mass extinction and volcanism has been clarified, based on the research of bauxite and pyrite deposits in the Yo...

Cave hyenas (genus Crocuta) are extinct bone-cracking carnivores from the family Hyaenidae and are generally split into two taxa that correspond to a European/Eurasian and an (East) Asian lineage. They are close relatives of the extant African spotted hyenas, the only extant member of the genus Crocuta. Cave hyenas inhabited a wide range across Eur...

Conodont ecology of the Early Triassic Smithian–Spathian transition is still poorly understood. Here we use oxygen isotope ratios of monogeneric conodonts from Omani samples to reveal the differences of oxygen isotopic composition between different taxa. Oxygen isotope analyses from Oman reveal that Neogondolella inhabited a deeper part of the wate...

Background: Old World porcupines (Family: Hystricidae) are the third-largest rodents and inhabit southern Europe, Asia, and most regions of Africa. They are a typical indicator of warm climate and their distribution is restricted to tropical and subtropical zones. In China, porcupines are widely distributed in southern areas of the Yangtze River....

There were several species of Equus in northern China during the Late Pleistocene, including Equus przewalskii and Equus dalianensis. A number of morphological studies have been carried out on E. przewalskii and E. dalianensis, but their evolutionary history is still unresolved. In this study, we retrieved near-complete mitochondrial genomes from E...

The deer resources in China are abundant, with seven species in the sub-family Cervinae distributing in various areas. The intraspecific phylogeny of Cervinae has been widely explored, while the evolutionary relationship among different species requires further efforts, in which only few molecular studies on ancient materials have been performed. I...

The Bering Land Bridge connecting North America and Eurasia was periodically exposed and inundated by oscillating sea levels during the Pleistocene glacial cycles. This land connection allowed the intermittent dispersal of animals, including humans, between Western Beringia (far north-east Asia) and Eastern Beringia (north-west North America), chan...

The deer resources in China are abundant, with seven species in the sub-family Cervinae distributing in various areas. The intraspecific phylogeny of Cervinae has been widely explored, while the evolutionary relationship among different species requires further efforts, in which only few molecular studies on ancient materials have been performed. I...

Geomorphology is an important control on the formation of bauxite. However, geomorphological research on bauxite deposit formation is usually hampered by the lack of systematic detailed data collection. This study focuses on the Wuchuan–Zheng'an–Daozheng (Wu–Zheng–Dao) area of northern Guizhou Province, South China, an area containing bauxite depos...

Domestic Bactrian camel (Camelus bactrianus) used to be one of the most important livestock species in Chinese history, as well as the major transport carrier on the ancient Silk Road. However, archeological studies on Chinese C. bactrianus are still limited, and molecular biology research on this species is mainly focused on modern specimens. In t...

Deep-water facies sections have advantages of recording complete information across the Permian-Triassic boundary (PTB). Here we present a detailed study on the conodont biostratigraphy and carbon isotope profile ranges from the Wuchiapingian-Changhsingian boundary (WCB) to the PTB of two deep-water facies sections at Zhuqiao and Shiligou in the Mi...

The extant diversity of horses (family Equidae) represents a small fraction of that occurring over their evolutionary history. One such lost lineage is the subgenus Sussemionus, which is thought to have become extinct during the Middle Pleistocene. However, recent molecular studies and morphological analysis have revealed that one of their represen...

Historically, the giant panda was widely distributed from northern China to southwestern Asia [1]. As a result of range contraction and fragmentation, extant individuals are currently restricted to fragmented mountain ranges on the eastern margin of the Qinghai-Tibet plateau, where they are distributed among three major population clusters [2]. How...

Abundant platform-bearing gondolellid conodonts, including Scythogondolella mosheri (Kozur and Mostler), Sc . phryna Orchard and Zonneveld, and Sc . cf. milleri (Müller), have been discovered from the Yiwagou Section of Tewo, together with Novispathodus waageni waageni (Sweet) and Nv . w . eowaageni Zhao and Orchard. This is the first report of Smi...

Historically, the giant panda was widely distributed from northern China to southwestern Asia. As a result of range contraction and fragmentation, extant individuals are currently restricted to fragmented mountain ranges on the eastern margin of the Qinghai-Tibet plateau, where they are distributed among three major population clusters. However, li...

This year, two studies have reported ancient DNA sequences from giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca). We present the combined analysis of these ancient panda sequences to reveal a lost clade which survived through the Last Glacial Maximum and became extinct sometime subsequent to the Middle Holocene. This result indicates a major loss of mitochond...

Pigs were domesticated from wild boars by humans living in different parts of the world. Archaeological studies show that the Near East and China may be the domestication centers of pigs. In order to find evidence for the genetic contribution of wild boars to pig domestication, ancient DNA study on 30 Late Pleistocene wild boar fossils collected fr...

Marine depositions in Southwest China were well developed during the Middle to Upper Triassic. However, conodont biostratigraphic subdivision and correlation in the Late Triassic (Carnian age) are less systematically studied. Based on high-precision conodont samples collected from Yangliujing, Zhuganpo and Wayao formations in Luoping, Guanling and...

As a marine microfossil with a long-lasting fossil record stretching from the Cambrian to the Triassic, the tiny conodont plays an important role for the study of the end-Permian mass extinction. In the past few decades, numerous studies on Permian-Triassic conodonts have been published. This paper summarizes the progress made on high-resolution co...

Knowledge of the conodont skeleton, in terms of the morphology of the elements and the positions they occupy, provides the foundation for understanding of homology, taxonomy and evolutionary relationships in conodonts. This knowledge also underpins analyses of conodont functional morphology and feeding. Direct evidence of skeletal anatomy and appar...

The enigmatic biotic and environmental changes during the Carnian Humid Episode (CHE) have been investigated in South China. The body size of conodonts, assessed as length of P1 elements, and their diversity show substantial changes in the mid-Carnian. The well-dated Long Chang, Yongyue and Caizitang sections in southwestern China record a change o...

The giant panda was widely distributed in China and south-eastern Asia during the middle to late Pleistocene, prior to its habitat becoming rapidly reduced in the Holocene. While conservation reserves have been established and population numbers of the giant panda have recently increased, the interpretation of its genetic diversity remains controve...

Knowledge of the conodont skeleton, in terms of the morphology of the elements and the positions they occupy, provides the foundation for understanding of homology, taxonomy and evolutionary relationships in con-odonts. This knowledge also underpins analyses of conodont functional morphology and feeding. Direct evidence of skeletal anatomy and appa...

The subdivision of Ladinian and Carnian strata in Guizhou, South China has been a matter of intense debate because of the paucity of age-diagnostic faunas. Here we have carried out a detailed conodont biostratigraphic investigation on the Yangliujing, Zhuganpo and Wayao formations in the Yongyue section of western Guizhou Province. Conodonts are on...

Permian strata from the Tieqiao section (Jiangnan Basin, South China) contain several distinctive conodont assemblages. Early Permian (Cisuralian) assemblages are dominated by the genera Sweetognathus, Pseudosweetognathus and Hindeodus with rare Neostreptognathodus and Gullodus. Gondolellids are absent until the end of the Kungurian stage—in contra...

Recently, Brosse et al. (2016) have proposed the use of conodont Unitary Associations Zones (UAZs) to substantially modify the biostratigraphy of the Permian–Triassic transition and to redefine the Permian–Triassic boundary (PTB). However, in our opinion, the UAZ analysis presented by Brosse et al. (2016) is based on unreliable taxonomic data sets...

It has been 35 years since the first attempt of obtaining nucleotides from the female grave burial in Han Dynasty at Mawangdui graveyard by researchers from Hunan Medical School. As a result of various methodological developments, including the introduction of high- throughput sequencing techniques and the ability of targeting extremely short and d...

The Carnian Humid Episode (CHE), also known as the Carnian Pluvial Event, and associated biotic changes are major enigmas of the Mesozoic record in western Tethys. We show that the CHE also occurred in eastern Tethys (South China), suggestive of a much more widespread and probably global climate perturbation. Oxygen isotope records from conodont ap...

New collecting at a biostratigraphically highly-resolved deep-water section in South China, reveals a brief (a few tens of thousands of years) but measurable delay in extinction timing relative to contemporaneous, shallower water sections. Foraminifers and conodonts in the Bianyang section show a sharp extinction at the top of Hindeodus changxingen...

Abstract: The taxonomy, diversity, evolutionary lineages, and stratigraphical distributions of Middle and early Late Triassic conodonts are reviewed and re-evaluated. Twentyfive genera are recognized in the Middle and early Late Triassic, including a new genus cited in open nomenclature. Of these, 24 genera are assigned to two families and seven su...

Plume-induced lithospheric uplift and erosion are widely regarded as key features of large igneous province (LIP) emplacement, as is the coincidence of LIP eruption with major extinction and oceanic anoxic events (OAE). The Emeishan LIP, which erupted during the Capitanian (previously termed ‘end Guadalupian’) extinction event, has provided the mos...

The Early Triassic was a time of remarkably high temperatures, large carbon cycle perturbations and episodes of widespread ocean anoxia. The sediments in the Nanpanjiang Basin of South China provide superb opportunities to examine the sedimentary response to these extreme conditions especially during the crisis interval at the Smithian–Spathian (S-...

The Triassic “Green-bean Rock” (GBR) layers were widely recognized around the Early-Middle Triassic boundary interval in the Nanpanjiang Basin, South China. To determine the precise relationship between the GBR layers and the first appearance datum (FAD) of the conodont Chiosella timorensis, four Lower-Middle Triassic sections from the Nanpanjiang...

Jiarong (Huishui County, Guizhou Province, South China) is a key locality for the study of the Early Triassic recovery after the end-Permian mass extinction. The size reduction of conodonts at the Smithian/Spathian transition was first documented in Jiarong, and it is also a locality that contributes to the documentation of the Early Triassic paleo...

The widespread microbialites deposition that followed the End-Permian mass extinction in the Tethyan realm have been intensively studied because of the evidence they provide on the nature of this crisis and its aftermath. However, the age of the microbialite event remains controversial. New conodont collection across the Permian-Triassic (P-T) tran...

Ancient DNA data have supported a sister relationship between woolly rhinoceros and extant Sumatran rhinoceros. This relationship has been used to explore the divergent times for the woolly rhinoceros from their relatives. Complete and partial ancient DNA sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome b (cyt b) gene were retrieved from bones of the late...

The shift from hunting and gathering to farming is one of the most important transitions in human history. Pig domestication has long been an issue of interest in archaeology and genetics. As the real-time carrier of the genetic information for dead or extinct animals, ancient DNA provides continuous molecular evidence for tracing the history of do...

Ancient DNA data have supported a sister relationship between woolly rhinoceros and extant Sumatran rhinoceros. This relationship has been used to explore the divergent times for the woolly rhinoceros from their relatives. Complete and partial ancient DNA sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome b (cyt b) gene were retrieved from bones of the late...

The living hyena species (spotted, brown, striped and aardwolf) are remnants of a formerly diverse group of more than 80 fossil species, which peaked in diversity in the Late Miocene (about 7-8 Ma). The fossil history indicates an African origin, and morphological and ancient DNA data have confirmed that living spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta) of A...

Pig domestication has long been an issue of interest in archaeology and genetics. As the real- time carrier of the genetic information for historical or extinct animals, ancient DNA may provide continuous molecular evidence for tracing the history of domestication. We collected 30 wild boar fossils of late pleistocene from three caves in Guangxi, s...

The geographic population patterns of Lingula anatina across the Indo-West Pacific region are analyzed based on mitochondrial COI and nuclear EF-1 alpha gene sequences. Compared with the remarkable morphological stasis, genetic evidence of extant Lingula species displays deep genetic divergence. Three distinct COI lineages were detected for L. anat...

A new conodont biostratigraphic study is presented from a key section on the flanks of the Permian-Triassic Great Bank of Guizhou, an isolated carbonate platform from South China, that has recently provided much key data for understanding the nature of this mass extinction interval. Detailed investigation at Bianyang (Guizhou Province) has revealed...

A high-resolution oxygen isotope record based on 356 measurements of conodont apatite from several low latitudinal sections in South China, USA and Iran was composed in order to unravel Permian palaeotemperature and ice volume history. The conodont apatite δ¹⁸O record is compared to published brachiopod calcite δ¹⁸O records. Brachiopods and conodon...

Final recovery of marine ecosystems after the end-Permian mass extinction took several million years, partly due to inhospitable environments and further pulses of extinction that occurred during the Early Triassic, such as the Smithian-Spathian Boundary (SSB) crisis. The SSB crisis coincides with an episode of extreme warmth, but has been little s...

Large scale clearing of natural forests for human settlements as well as in the form of tea, rubber and cinnamon plantations resulted forest fragmentation in most natural ecosystems in the wet zone of Sri Lanka which posed massive threats to both nature and the humans including the loss of biodiversity, environmental hazards and increasing poverty....

Goudemand et al. replot a subset of our well-constrained data using a new Early Triassic biostratigraphic scheme based on a lower-resolution ammonoid zonation scheme and hypothetical ammonoid-conodont correlation to produce a less distinct seawater temperature history. We dispute their unsubstantiated correlation and, consequently, their allegation...

A detailed, 20 myr redox history of Permian to Triassic oceans (Changhsingian to Carnian stages) has been constructed using Ce-anomaly (ΩCe) and Th/U ratios from conodont albid crown apatite material. The results show that the well-established phenomenon of intense ocean anoxia (coincident with the end-Permian mass extinction) is faithfully recorde...

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##Assembly-Data-START## Assembly Method :: Geneious v. 5.6.2 Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##

##Assembly-Data-START## Assembly Method :: Geneious v. 5.6.2 Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##

Global warming is widely regarded to have played a contributing role in numerous past biotic crises. Here, we show that the end-Permian mass extinction coincided with a rapid temperature rise to exceptionally high values in the Early Triassic that were inimical to life in equatorial latitudes and suppressed ecosystem recovery. This was manifested i...

The Permian–Triassic (PTB) boundary section at Gaimao (Huaxi District, Guiyang, Guizhou Province) records a unique lithological transition between the Permian and Triassic in South China. Thus, bioclastic limestones of the Changxing Formation are overlain by radiolarian-bearing siliceous rocks of the Dalong Formation and ultimately limestone/mudsto...

The Capitanian (middle Permian) extinction and recovery event is examined in carbonate platform settings from western Tethys (Hungary and Hydra, Greece). The age model for these sections is poorly resolved and we have constructed a δ13C chemostratigraphic correlation scheme, supported by conodont and foraminifer data, which attempts correlation wit...

High-resolution oxygen isotope records document the timing and magnitude of global warming across the Permian-Triassic (P-Tr) boundary. Oxygen isotope ratios measured on phosphate-bound oxygen in conodont apatite from the Meishan and Shangsi sections (South China) decrease by 2 parts per thousand in the latest Permian, translating into low-latitude...

The Capitanian (middle Permian) extinction and recovery event is examined in carbonate platform settings from western Tethys (Hungary and Hydra, Greece). The age model for these sections is poorly resolved and we have constructed a δ¹³C chemostratigraphic correlation scheme, supported by conodont and foraminifer data, which attempts correlation wit...