Xueping Ji’s research while affiliated with Institute for History of Natural Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences and other places

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Publications (67)


A ~7.25 Ma Diversified Forest Supported Yuanmou Hominoids Survival in Yunnan: Evidence from Palynology and U-Pb Carbonate Dating of Hyena Coprolites
  • Preprint

April 2025

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3 Reads

Xiabo Li

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Xueping Ji

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[...]

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Hongbo Zheng

Location of Shuitangba (Late Miocene), Zhaotong Basin, Yunnan Province, China. Base satellite map generated with Google Earth V 7.3.4.8248 (28 August 2023). Camera: 1977.08 km, 27.302110° N, 103.855987° W. Landsat/Copernicus 2023 (satellite data sources: ISO, NOAA, U.S. Navy, NGA, GEBCO). http://www.earth.google.com [10 September 2023].
Comparative modern mustelid femora. (a) Femoral measurements and descriptions (after Lewis, 2008); (b) horizontally flipped left femur in posterior view of Taxidea taxus (USNM 484864); right femur of Lontra canadensis (USNM 564276) in (c) posterior, (d) lateral, (e) medial, and (f) anterior views. Below: (g) forelimb measurements and descriptions (after Kilbourne, 2017); right humerus of same specimen in (h) lateral and (i) anterior views; right ulna of same specimen in (j) medial, and (k) anterior views; right radius of same specimen in (l) anterior and (m) lateral views. GT, greater trochanter; LT, lesser trochanter; TT, trochanter tertius.
Humeri of Siamogale melilutra. Left distal humerus (top and middle rows; ZT‐2010‐0375) and right distal humerus (bottom row; ZT‐2022‐T8): (a, f, and k) anterior; (b, g, and l) posterior; (c and h) medial; (d and i) lateral; (e, j, and m) distal views. White squares in (f–j) are 1 cm²; scale is unknown in (m) but image is approximately sized to other photos. A, anterior; Cap, capitulum; L, lateral; M, medial; P, posterior; Tro, trochlea.
Right ulnae (ZT‐2010‐0356, top and ZT‐2010‐0417, bottom) of Siamogale melilutra. (a and e) medial; (b and f) anterior; (c and g) lateral; and (d and h) posterior views. Note that both specimens lack a distal epiphysis, and ZT‐2010‐0356 also lacks a proximal epiphysis.
Right proximal radius (ZT‐2007‐01‐111, top) and left radius missing distal epiphysis (ZT‐2010‐0321, bottom) of Siamogale melilutra. (a and f) lateral; (b and g) medial; (c and h) anterior; (d and i) posterior; (e and j) proximal views. A, anterior; L, lateral; M, medial; P, posterior. Radii are scaled to the same 3 cm bar.

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Postcranial functional morphology of the large swamp otter Siamogale melilutra (Lutrinae: Mustelidae: Carnivora) from northeastern Yunnan, south‐western China
  • Article
  • Publisher preview available

April 2025

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121 Reads

Siamogale melilutra was a large otter from the Late Miocene site of Shuitangba in Yunnan Province, China. Previous analyses have hypothesized that the species was a molluscivore and a dominant predator in an otherwise depauperate local carnivoran guild. Here we describe limb elements of S. melilutra and perform quantitative analyses to categorize the functional morphology of the species to better understand its role in the predominantly aquatic and near‐water environments at Shuitangba. Our results indicate morphological similarities to both semi‐aquatic and semi‐fossorial modern mustelids. The limbs suggested unspecialized swimming abilities that were probably limited to paddling along the water surface. Multiple traits suggest semi‐fossorial capabilities, possibly related to increased hip stabilization and postural maintenance during digging or intensive foraging. Features relating to semi‐fossorial capability are consistently in the ranges of those of modern badgers. The combined functionality associated with both fore‐ and hind limb morphology was consistent with the more primitively generalized morphology of early lutrines. Many features of the limbs reveal the influence of body size that overwhelms or is indistinguishable from functional signals. Results suggest behaviors similar to those of the modern clawless otter Aonyx, which is more reliant on shoreline foraging, often involving digging, and terrestrial locomotion than other modern otters. The large size of S. melilutra likely provided advantages such as increased potential prey size range and the ability to utilize terrestrial resources, although it would have been more constrained by drag‐related forces in the water.

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Figure 1. General evaluation of the MZR data. (A) The frequency distribution of the 3,058 MZR mtDNA mismatches in 21,927 Han Chinese mtDNA sequences. (B) Comparison of C>T (forward strand) and G>A (reverse strand) substitution ratios along the sequence reads between MZR, NEA (Altai-Neanderthal), DEN (Denisovan) and TY (Tianyuan). For comparison, we also plotted the ratios of the non-C>T/G>A substitutions. The non-standard substitutions (i.e. the non-C>T/G>A substitutions) along the sequence reads of MZR are shown by the light-colored curves. (C) The sequence length distribution in MZR (shotgun sequences and all sequences sets) and other published Late Pleistocene and early Holocene individuals from East Asia and Southeast Asia, including Tianyuan, Longlin and Leang Panninge. All the samples were randomly sampling ~187,543 reads which close to the fewest set (MZR shotgun sequences). (D) Using 2.2 million SNPs (1,240K+870K) set, the PCA plot showing the relationship among MZR (50% shortest sequences and 50% longest sequences sets) and present-day East Asians from the 1,000 Genomes Project3. We project the MZR data onto the first and second PC space established using the modern samples. (E) The pattern of terminal damages using the pooled single-strand libraries sequences with the PMDtools-filtered reads (threshold=3).
Figure 2. Mutations type proportion comparison in the genome of MZR with the published 1,240K SNP sets of Denisovan, Altai Neanderthal and Tianyuan (Table S3).
Figure 3. The test results of D(Mbuti, First Americans; X, Y), comparing the affinity degree to First Americans among Paleo-Siberians, MZR, China_SEastAsia_Coastal_EN, China_NEastAsia_ Coastal_EN, Russia_Boisman_MN, Russia_DevilsCave_N and Japan_Shikoku_InitialJomon. The results of pairwise SNPs number<20,000 were excluded in the analyses (Table S5).
Response to Tabin et al-Concerns about ancient DNA sequences reported from a Late Pleistocene individual from Southeast Asia

April 2025

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87 Reads

Tabin et al suspect a high error rate and abnormal error content in the MZR genome data from our published study, from which they raised concerns about the reliability and useability of our published sequences. Given the poor environmental conditions (such as warm climate and acidic soil in the low latitude area of Southwest China), as well as the non-ideal fossil material (cranium) for DNA extraction, we argue that a relatively high level of aDNA damage, as well as possible artefacts from extraction, library construction and sequencing better explain the observed pattern by Tabin et al in MZR rather than modern DNA contamination. Particularly, we think the mutation motif of the MZR mtDNA, derived from our careful manual check, should be reliable. In addition, we provide additional analyses showing how we minimize the effect of aDNA damage in population analyses.


Morphometric Study on the Mandible of Colobine Fossil (Mesopithecus pentelicus) Found in East Asia, a Comparison With Extant Taxa

January 2025

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55 Reads

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1 Citation

American Journal of Primatology

A tooth-bearing mandible fossil of a colobine monkey discovered at Shuitangba, Zhaotong, Yunnan, China, was morphometrically analyzed and compared with extant Asian colobines. Our previous qualitative and quantitative descriptions indicate that it can be safely attributed to Mesopithecus pentelicus, a Miocene fossil colobine widely found in Europe and South Asia. The present research aims to explore fossil association with extant colobines and functionally propose its dietary preferences based on multivariate morphometric analyses of mandibular morphology. The results indicate that this fossil species presents a mosaic association with extant langurs (Presbytis, Trachypithecus, and Semnopithecus) and odd-nosed monkeys (Pygathrix, Nasalis, and Rhinopithecus), with most similarities of size-related traits and size-adjusted shapes, and a notable difference from extant Rhinopithecus, due to the increased body size of the latter since the Pliocene. The allometric analysis showed that, like the fossils of the same species in other sites, its mandibular structure appears more adapted to crushing hard seed shells than chewing leaves. Moreover, our findings also imply that the Asian colobines significantly modified their dietary preferences over the last 6 million years following the ecological and environmental changes triggered by the accelerated uplift of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateaus and severe monsoons. Morphologically, the more developed condyle length and moment arms of the temporomandibular joint and medial pterygoid muscles appear to accommodate a more folivorous dietary selection, functionally related to the intake of rigid fibers in leaves that require frequent one or two-side mandibular chewing and grinding.




Paleoecology and paleobiogeography of the latest Miocene site of Shuitangba, Zhaotong, China

March 2024

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165 Reads

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3 Citations

Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology

Apart from northern and central China, the fossil record of the latest Miocene and Early Pliocene of Asia is not well documented and the record of South China during this interval is especially poor. Shuitangba, a site in Yunnan Province, offers a rare window into the paleoenvironment of the latest Miocene in southwestern China. Over 2400 vertebrate and macrobotanical specimens have been recovered from the site. The faunal assemblage is dominated by aquatic avian taxa and many of the mammalian taxa are those that indicate densely vegetated, water-margin habitats. Pollen and carpological remains indicate a temperate to subtropical, broad-leaved/ coniferous forest around standing water, with more open areas containing grasses and herbs. Analyses of clay minerals, chemical weathering, and enamel stable isotopes suggest that Shuitangba was warmer and more humid than today, possibly with more pronounced seasonality. Results of community structure analysis indicate that the Shuitangba mammalian community was different from those of other Late Miocene Chinese sites in the high proportions of aquatic-dependent mammalian taxa. While Shuitangba shared mammalian faunal elements with other Late Miocene sites in Yunnan, it was still faunally distinct. Further, Shuitangba was depauperate in its mammalian fauna, which may have been a result of the depositional setting rather than a true reflection of regional faunal diversity.





Citations (46)


... Sex dimorphism, which distinguishes male and female morphological features, is one of the important topics in this research arena. Morphometrics has fundamental utility beyond forensic identification and contributes to a better understanding of the various populations [63,64]. The present study aimed to systematically examine and precisely collect data and interpret the findings within the broader form of existing knowledge. ...

Reference:

Permanent Canine Morphometrics in the Saudi Arabian Population: A Sex-Based Comparison Using Mesiodistal and Cervicoincisal Widths
Morphometric Study on the Mandible of Colobine Fossil (Mesopithecus pentelicus) Found in East Asia, a Comparison With Extant Taxa
  • Citing Article
  • January 2025

American Journal of Primatology

... Ma Ji et al., 2013;Raffi et al., 2020). This sequence represents a series of lacustrine facies, including shore-shallow lake and swamp-shore subfacies comprising water-lain peaty clay layers that are divided by lignite Su et al., 2024;Zhang et al., 2016). Vertebrate fossils are located in situ as isolated elements scattered throughout a peaty clay layer Su et al., 2024). ...

Paleoecology and paleobiogeography of the latest Miocene site of Shuitangba, Zhaotong, China
  • Citing Article
  • March 2024

Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology

... .1~13.2ka之间 [3] 。遗址各层间文化面貌大体 一致,文化体系基本相同,表明其文化具有一 定稳定性。已有研究表明该遗址包含和平技术 复合体的产品 [4] ,属于以修型概念为主体的石 器工业类型,但也有剥坯概念产品,包括一定 数量的长石片。本文拟就娜咪囡遗址的长石片 进行报道和研究,以期丰富对该区域古人类石 器工业体系的认识。 一、"长石片"之概念及意义 "长石片"(elongate flake)这一概念从 字面上看仅强调了石片的形态属性,因而早期 学者对其内涵上的认识存在异议:张森水将长 石片定义为"预制好的石核上打下长度超过宽 度一倍以上的、中上部两侧几近平行的、宽度 超过10毫米的石片" [5] ,这与现今对"石叶" 的定义范围有所重合。Morlan在其研究中所使 用的"长石片"概念含义则宽泛许多:不仅包 括石叶和细石叶制品,还包括"打击方向垂直 于石片长轴"的石片 [6] ,即宽大于长的石片。 一般而言,"长石片"强调石片长大于宽的属 性 [7] ,因此石叶、细石叶、似石叶、似细石叶 等都可归属于"长石片"的范畴 [8] ;但更多情 境下"长石片"还是用于指示具备石叶形态特 征,但缺少石叶技术特征的石片 [9] ,与"似石 叶"概念具有更大的相似性。笔者认为:"长 石片"应当基于石片的基本概念,以平行于石 片打击轴方向为其长、垂直于打击轴方向为其 宽,长大于宽的非石叶类制品为讨论范围,包 括通常所说的"似石叶"在内,而石叶、细石 叶不在其内。 有 研 究 指 出 , 石 制 品 的 " 长 型 化 " (elongation)是石器技术发展的总体趋势,代 表了更高的效率和性价比,指示了古人类认知 的复杂化进程,因为稳定地生产需要较高的技 术水平,且长型的石制品往往指示着更为复杂 的行为 [10] 。就长石片而言,其可以提供更长的 有效刃缘 [11] ;也可以利用有限的石料生产更多 有效的石片 [12] 。实验研究显示,剥取长石片需 要打制者更高的熟练度,且由于片疤可以覆盖 整个剥片面从而保证平坦,因此剥取长石片也 有助于连续剥片的进行 [13] 。系统性的长石片生 产有助于复合工具的使用和维护 [14] [18] 。在Nicolas Toth对石片六分法分 类的基础上,本遗址将混合背面区分为自然背面 多和人工背面多两种,并增加混合台面类型,将 石片分成12类 [19] [ [48] 、普定 白 岩 脚洞 [49] 、平坝牛坡洞 [50] 、毕节扁扁洞 [51] ...

The Hoabinhian technocomplex in southwest China: Preliminary report on new discoveries in recent decades
  • Citing Article
  • February 2024

L Anthropologie

... A typical "Hoabinhian" technocomplex has long been known to be a prehistoric cultural tool industry of late Paleolithic hunter-gatherers in SEA. The specialized lithic assemblages including flexed burials, sumatraliths, large and small tools made on cobbles, or more controversially, organic artifacts made of bamboos, were found from several late Pleistocene to mid-Holocene archaeological sites in mainland Southeast Asia (MSEA) including Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, and some neighboring regions such as South China and Indonesia (e.g., Gourou, 1948;Gorman, 1969;Thaw, 1971;Adi Haji Taha, 1981;Forestier et al., 2005Forestier et al., , 2023Patole-Edoumba et al., 2015;Chitkament et al., 2016;Zeitoun et al., 2019;Wu et al., 2022). In MSEA, archaeological evidence was often obtained from high-altitude karst settings such as caves and rockshelters (e.g., TLR, Ban Rai Rockshelter (BRR), Doi Pha Kan, and Pha Phen) where human skeletons and Hoabinhian lithic artifacts associated with rich mammal remains were found (e.g., Schepartz et al., 2000;Shoocongdej, 2006;Shoocongdej et al., 2007;Mudar and Anderson, 2007;Tayles et al., 2015;Viet et al., 2015;Zeitoun et al., 2019). ...

Le façonnage unifacial sur galet en Asie du Sud-Est : l’Hoabinhien du Cambodge
  • Citing Article
  • October 2023

L Anthropologie

... ornaments, art, burials, composite tools, hafting, selection of different raw materials, …) or even through the recognition of complex social patterns (goods exchanges, settlement space use strategies, ethnic and/or linguistic differentiations based on typologicaldecorative styles, and more). Since modern behaviour must necessarily be correlated with evolutionary developments of cognitive properties (e.g., "the out-of-brain storage of symbolism", Wadley 2001:201), a broad consensus holds that such modernity-although not necessarily fully acquired at the time of our biological emergence (for instance Wadley 2001;Marean 2010; Bar-Yosef Mayer et al. 2020), and not showing a worldwide uniformity (see for instance, Bar-Yosef 2005;Szabo et al. 2007;Zhou et al. 2023)-is a feature of the intellectual capacities of our species, Homo sapiens. Over the last decades, some authors -by assuming that peculiar archaeological evidence found at sites frequented by the non-sapiens human species should be considered as the result of an innovative, a modern-like cultural adaptationclaim for the behavioural modernity of the Neanderthal (for instance, among others, Shipman 2008;Cortés-Sanchez et al. 2011), while others backdate it to the more archaic species (Joordens et al. 2015). ...

The knapping strategies in the Paleolithic on the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, southwest China: A regional particularity
  • Citing Article
  • October 2023

L Anthropologie

... Mainland Southeast Asia consists of two remarkable biogeographic regions: the Indochinese subregion and the Sundaic subregion that are divided by the Isthmus of Kra (Corbet and Hill, 1992). The Indochinese subregion was dominated by various Pliocene to Pleistocene fossil sites (e.g., Myanmar, China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand) where murid rodent fossils were recorded (Chen and Qi, 1978;Pope et al., 1980;Zhu et al., 1983;Qiu et al., 1984;Olsen and Ciochon, 1990;Ciochon and Olsen, 1991;Hu, 1995;Ciochon et al., 1996;Chaimanee, 1998;Jablonski et al., 2003;Shackelford, 2003;Bacon et al., 2004Bacon et al., , 2006Bacon et al., , 2011Zeitoun et al., 2010;Demeter et al., 2015Demeter et al., , 2017Nishioka et al., 2015;Ji et al., 2016;Shi, 2016;Shackelford et al., 2018;Zhang et al., 2017;Kawamura et al., 2019;Shoocongdej and Wattanapituksakul, 2020;Chang et al., 2023Chang et al., , 2024. In contrast, Pleistocene murid fossils have been infrequently found and investigated from the Sundaic subregion compared to the Indochinese realm (Medway, 1964(Medway, , 1972(Medway, , 1977Musser, 1982;van der Meulen and Musser, 1999;Storm, 2005Storm, , 2012Storm and de Vos, 2006;Westaway et al., 2007;Morwood et al., 2008;Piper, 2008, 2015;Ansyori, 2010;Ibrahim et al., 2013;Ishlahuda et al., 2019;Ishlahuda, 2020). ...

A new Rattus species and its associated micromammals from the Pliocene Yangyi Formation in Baoshan, western Yunnan, China

... In northern China, blade and microlithic industries, personal ornamentations, and the symbolic uses of ocher have been frequently discovered since 45 ka (Li et al., 2018;Wang et al., 2022;Yang et al., 2017Yang et al., , 2024a. However, in contemporary southern China, the technological changes are relatively less pronounced, primarily characterized by a diverse collection of pebble/cobble tools, core-flake tools, and micro-flake tools across various sites and periods (Cao et al., 2024;Li et al., 2019Li et al., , 2023Qu et al., 2013;Zhou et al., 2022Zhou et al., , 2024. Moreover, most industries exhibit either incomplete sequence or interrupted technocomplex. ...

Final Pleistocene-Early Holocene (∼40–8 ka) Lithic Industries in Southern China and Their Implications for Understanding the Prehistory of Mainland Southeast Asia
  • Citing Article
  • August 2023

Lithic Technology

... The use-wear study should be conducted on these mega tools to confirm whether they were used with their potential cutting edges. Preliminary residue analysis of several mega tools has identified seed starch granules of Fagaceae on the working edges (Yu et al., 2022), which may indicate the practical usage of these tools. ...

Morphological characteristics of seed starch granules of Fagaceae in South China and their implication in paleodiet

... Increased precipitation seasonality and ongoing aridification could further transform sclerophyllous evergreen broadleaf forests into subtropical evergreen needleleaf forests or savannas (Zhu 2023;Huang et al. 2016;Ratnam et al. 2016). This environmental transition likely led to the extinction of primate taxa from central Yunnan and is supported by the fossil record, which confirms that macaques, leaf-eating monkeys, and gibbons were present in northeastern and central Yunnan during the late Miocene (8-6 mya) (Ji et al. 2020;Ji et al. 2022;Jablonski 1993; Table S2). A similar climatic-ecological process likely led to the extinction of a large-bodied ape (Gigantopithecus blacki) in the adjacent Chongzuo region of Guangxi Province during the late Miocene (Zhang et al. 2024). ...

The earliest hylobatid from the Late Miocene of China
  • Citing Article
  • October 2022

Journal of Human Evolution

... The areas of greatest biodiversity are located in Yunnan's western and southeastern regions (Qian et al. 2020;Wang et al. 2022;Yuan et al. 2022;Li and Pimm 2016;Yang et al. 2025), with the Yangtze River-Red River-24° N as a possible biogeographic boundary to faunal exchange. This boundary may have originated (i) in response to the formation of different monsoon climates along the Jinsha River and the Red River during the Pleistocene (~2-1 Ma), resulting from geological uplifting of the Yunnan Plateau (hereafter referred to as YP) in the late Pliocene (~3 Ma) and large-scale differential uplifting of mountains in the longitudinal range gorge (hereafter referred to as LRG) approximately 4-1.6 Ma (Fan et al. 2013;Huang et al. 2016;Zhu 2023) or (ii) in response to species population decline and extinctions due to human activities in the central YP over the past several thousand years (Maimaitiming et al. 2013;Zhang et al. 2021;Zhang et al. 2022;He et al. 2022). However, given a limited primate fossil record across Yunnan in response to its acidic soils, there is a limited fossil record from which to test these two alternatives (Hou et al. 2019 ; Table S1). ...

Dispersion, Speciation, Evolution, and Coexistence of East Asian Catarrhine Primates and Humans in Yunnan, China
  • Citing Chapter
  • August 2022