您选择的条件: 2022-11
  • The Sharamurunian rodent fauna in the Erlian Basin, Nei Mongol, China

    分类: 生物学 >> 动物学 提交时间: 2022-11-25 合作期刊: 《古脊椎动物学报》

    摘要: 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 Allosminthus uniconjugatus and Primisminthus shanghenus, the cricetid Pappocricetodon rencunensis, the ischyromyid Hulgana cf. H. ertnia, and the cylindrodontid Proardynomys ulausuensis) belonging to 7 genera, 4 families, and 1 superfamily of Rodentia. The Ula Usu rodent assemblage shares a high degree of similarity with that from the Lower Red beds of the Erden Obo, and they both represent the typical Sharamurunian rodent assemblages found in northern China. The Sharamurunian rodent fauna in the Erlian Basin is analyzed by the minimum number of individuals based on the rodent materials from the lower part of the Shara Murun Formation in the Ula Usu and the Lower Red beds of the Erden Obo. In the Sharamurunian rodent fauna of the Erlian Basin, ctenodactyloids are the most dominant elements, and dipodids and cricetids follow next in prevalence. By analyzing the evolution of the rodent species richness in the Erlian Basin, the rodent faunas show a transformation from a ctenodactyloid dominant assemblage to a cricetid-dipodid dominant one in chronological order. The Sharamurunian rodent fauna from the Erlian Basin differs from that of the Yuanqu Basin and the differences in the rodent assemblages may be a response to the differences between the regional environments.

  • The pelvic morphology of Parayunnanolepis (Placodermi, Antiarcha) revealed by tomographic data

    分类: 生物学 >> 动物学 提交时间: 2022-11-25 合作期刊: 《古脊椎动物学报》

    摘要: 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 endoskeletal pelvic girdles, presumably for the attachment of the pelvic fins. Here, we redescribe the pelvic region of the holotype based on high-resolution computed tomographic data. Instead of having two large plates previously designated as dermal pelvic girdles, Parayunnanolepis possesses three pairs of lateral pelvic plates, and one large oval median pelvic plate. The paired pelvic plates are flat ventral plates, and differ from other dermal pelvic girdles in lacking a dorsal extension. There is no definitive evidence for the presence of an endoskeletal pelvic girdle in Parayunnanolepis, although the possibility cannot be ruled out. A comparison of the dermal pelvic plates in various jawed stem-gnathostomes suggests the presence of both paired and median pelvic plates is shared by different lineages and might be plesiomorphic. The jawed stem-gnathostomes may have recruited the ventral dermal skeleton of the post-thoracic body into different functional units.