分类: 生物学 >> 动物学 提交时间: 2017-11-07 合作期刊: 《古脊椎动物学报》
摘要: This paper describes some micromammal fossils which were excavated from the South Longyadong Cave in the Luonan Basin, eastern Qinling Mountains of Shaanxi Province, central China. The fauna include 15 mammals consisting by Scapanulus oweni, Nasillus andersoni, Uropsilinae gen. et sp. indet., Soriculus sp., Ochotona cf. O. alpina, Belomys parapearsoni, Allocricetus ehiki, Proedromys bedfordi, Allophaiomys deucalion, Eospalax sp., Niviventer preconfucianus, Apodemus asianicus, Apodemus sp., Hystrix brachyura subcristata, Trogontherium cuvieri. Among them, Nasillus andersoni and Ochotona cf. O. alpina are the newly discovered fossil species. The fossil assemblage characteristics of newly micromammal faunal is similar to the North Longyadong Cave Fauna, and the geological age should not be later than early Middle Pleistocene. It might be a fauna of late Early Pleistocene. But in recent years, the thermoluminescence age of fossiliferous strata corresponding are 356.6�7.8 ka BP, 273.9�3.7 ka BP and 210.5�0.5 ka BP. The fauna is including both the south and the north animals, the animal combination obviously has the characteristics of the transition between the south and the north of China.
分类: 生物学 >> 动物学 提交时间: 2017-11-07 合作期刊: 《古脊椎动物学报》
摘要: Sabertooth cats were extinct carnivorans that have attracted great attention and controversy because of their unique dental morphology representing an entirely extinct mode of feeding specialization. Some of them are lion-sized or tiger-sized carnivorans who are widely interpreted as hunters of larger and more powerful preys than those of their modern nonsaber-toothed relatives. We report the discovery of a large sabertooth cat skull of Machairodus horribilis from the Late Miocene of northwestern China. It shares some characteristics with derived sabertooth cats, but also is similar to extant pantherines in some cranial characters. A functional morphological analysis suggests that it differed from most other machairodont felids and had a limited gape to hunt smaller preys. Its anatomical features provide new evidence for the diversity of killing bites even within in the largest saber-toothed carnivorans and offer an additional mechanism for the mosaic evolution leading to functional and morphological diversity in sabertooth cats.