Origin, evolution and extinction of Cathaysia flora

Recent research results showed that the Cathaysia flora originated and developed from the global uniformLepidodendropsis flora of the Early Carboniferous, which had already become an independent flora in the early Late Carboniferous (Namurian B to C). The center of origin of the Cathaysia flora is restricted to the North China Plate. On the basis of the successional characteristics of the Cathaysia flora in different geological ages, it may be divided into seven evolutionary stages. The evolutionary trend of the Cathaysia flora, as a whole, was characterized by the gradual increase of the typical Cathaysian elements in the sequence from the early Late Carboniferous to the early Late Permian, which began to decline during the late Late Permian. The climatic differentiation, tectonic movement, oceanic circulation, palaeogeographical environment, extraterrestrial event and plant evolution caused the mass extinction of the Cathaysia flora on a large scale by the end of the Permian.     

树蕨类化石在淮北煤田的发现及意义

淮北煤田早二叠世晚期下石盒子组树蕨类茎干印痕化石丰富，计有４０余块。分属于蹄痕茎属（Ｃａｕｌｏｐｔｅｒｉｓ）、大痕木属（Ｍｅｇａｐｈｙｔｏｎ）及皱痕茎属（ＰｔｙｃｈｏＰｔｅｒｉｓ），共３属９种；其中蹄痕茎属４种（包括２个新种，Ｃａｕｌｏｐｔｒｉｓｙａｎｇｚｈｕａｎｇｅｎｓｉｓｓｐ．ｎｏｖ．和Ｃａｕｌｏｐｔｅｒｉｓｐｓｉｌｏｃｉｃａｔｒｉｘｓｐ．ｎｏｖ．）；大痕木属在国内尚属首次报道，仅见１种；皱痕茎属在国内亦属首次发现，鉴定有４个未定种。该类化石在本区以极大的丰度和良好的保存为特征，其发育显示该区早二叠世晚期热带雨林气候盛行。其次，说明树蕨类在其晚期发育中心已由欧美区移至华夏区。此外，该类在本区的发育是华夏植物地理区分化渐趋强烈的直接证据。     

Noeggerathiales as coal-forming plants in Cathaysia: conclusions from an Early Permian vegetational Pompeii in Inner Mongolia

Noeggerathiales are an extinct group of sporebearing plants of uncertain systematic position that are known from Carboniferous and Permian age Euramerican and Cathaysian floras that occurred in presentday Europe, North America, and East Asia. The order Noeggerathiales includes over 50 species of more than 20 fossil genera, but their paleoecology is not well understood yet. Previously this group had been found only in extrabasinal floras or those inhabiting clastic wetlands. Noeggerathiales have never been recorded in coal ball floras. Thus, it is up to now uncertain whether this group has contributed to the formation of coal. Recent investigations of an Early Permian peatforming flora of the Taiyuan Formation near Wuda, Inner Mongolia, which was preserved in a volcanic ash fall has provided evidence that noeggerathialean plants not only existed in the peatforming vegetation but could even be the dominant group in some areas of the coal swamp. The Noeggerathiales in this particular peatforming forest include Tingia unita, Paratingia wudensis, and a new species of Paratingia. Exceptionally well-preserved specimens indicate that these noeggerathialean plants are small trees with a canopy of compound leaves and strobili near the top of an unbranched （monocaulous） stem.     

山东淄博煤田晚石炭世——早二叠世植物群落特征

山东淄博煤田晚石炭世—早二叠世植物化石经鉴定,共计37属104种,其中包括11个新种。分析了本区植物化石的埋藏类型,根据各类植物的生活习性和生境,将晚石炭世—早二叠世植物群划分为五个植物群落,讨论了它们的多度、成分、结构和生活型等特征,并采用信息函数数理统计方法,应用电子计算机对各植物群落的分异度和均衡度进行了计算。     

广州地区前华夏植物群研究

广州地区晚泥盆世至早石炭世植物群计 2 3属 4 1种,以真蕨纲和种子蕨纲为主,石松纲居次,另外还有少量楔叶纲、科达纲及种子化石.按地层分布当前植物群可分为沙水岗组植物组合、龙江组植物组合及测水组植物组合.分析该植物群的组成特征,其性质属前华夏植物群     

Reinterpretation of the Guangxian Orogeny

The Guangxian Orogeny, as an important concept on geology of South China, was created 70 years ago. It is generally regarded as an orogenic movement caused by the convergence of the Cathaysian and Yangtze blocks at the end of Silurian. Based on the recent progress of the geological research on Guangxi and adjacent areas, western Guangxi and Liuzhou-Heshan area of central Guangxi may belong to a stable block of Early Paleozoic. The Guangxian Orogeny originated from the northward translation of the Yunkai Block on its south at the end of Cambrian, and formed the Damingshan-Dayaoshan fold belt between the two blocks. It was possibly related with the Late Pan-African Orogeny. The convergence of the Cathaysian and Yangtze blocks occurred in Late Ordovician to Early Silurian and mainly had effect on Hunan and Jiangxi provinces. The term “Chongyu Orogeny” may be suitable for it. At the end of Silurian orogenic movement did not occur in this area.     

云南省东部罗平地区晚三叠世卡尼期菊石生物地层

描述了产于云南省东部罗平地区牛补歹剖面上三叠统“法郎组”瓦窑段菊石带Trachyceras multitube- rculatum带之上地层中的菊石4属8种(含1比较种和3未定种), 其中Trachyceras aonoides, Simonyceras simonyi系国内首次报道。 依据各物种组合特征及其地层分布情况, 自下而上识别出菊石Trachyceras aonoides带和Austrotrachyceras triadicum带, 时代上大致对应晚三叠世早卡尼期的中晚期。     

中国瓢虫科的物种多样性分析

从华夏地理区的形成及其气候条件对植物进化的影响 ,以及昆虫与植物的协同进化关系 ,分析了包括10亚科 85属 6 80种的中国瓢虫科昆虫的物种多样性 ,并对中国分布的瓢虫科物种数进行了估算     

东北地区早石炭世岩相古地理研究

利用野外实测剖面资料和区域地质资料,在地层划分对比和构造格局研究的基础上,从点—线—面的沉积相分析入手,将早石炭世分为杜内期、维宪期—谢尔普霍夫期两个编图单元进行岩相古地理编图,恢复了东北地区早石炭世的岩相古地理面貌。研究表明,早石炭世东北地区主要发育台地沉积体系(其中,碳酸盐台地沉积体系主要在杜内期发育)、浅海陆棚沉积体系、障壁海岸沉积体系及河流沉积体系。研究区存在佳木斯、漠河和松辽三个主要的古陆区。杜内期,研究区可分为两个海区,北部称加格达奇—海拉尔海区,南部为东西向的锡林浩特—吉林海区;维宪期,研究区南部的兴安海槽呈一东西向狭窄的海域,海侵方向自东向西,一直可达内蒙古赤峰、敖汉旗一带,仍保持杜内期海域的特征;谢尔普霍夫期,研究区内大兴安岭强烈隆升,北部全部隆起,海域消失。     

Characteristics of the island-arc pillow lavas from southeast Yunnan Province, and its tectonic implications for Paleo-Tethys in South China

Based on the geological mapping, it is suggested that the pillow lavas exposed in Jianshui area in southeastern Yunnan Province are emplaced into the western part of Shizong-Mile faults, the boundary between the Yangtze and Cathaysian blocks, and mainly composed of tectonic massive of basalts and basaltic andsites. The geological and geochemical studies show that these lavas erupted in an island arc tectonic setting, which suggests that there existed the subduction of oceanic crust between the Yangtze and Cathaysian blocks. The paleontological fossils in the sedimentary interlayers between the volcanic rocks indicate that these pillow lavas erupted during Carboniferous-Permian. The geologic and geochemical evidence suggested that there existed an eastern branch of Paleo-Tethys between the Yangtze and Cathaysian blocks in southeastern Yunnan, South China.     

Tingia unita sp. nov. （Noeggerathiales） with strobilus from the Lower Permian of Wuda, Inner Mongolia, China

A number of specimens recently collected from the Early Permian Shanxi Formation of Wuda, Inner Mongolia demonstrate that the leafy shoot and strobilus of Tingia unita sp. nov. are both sprouting from a common stem, and consequently improve our understanding of the whole plant mor- phology of this enigmatic taxon of the Cathaysian flora. The strobili are cylinder-like, 1.7-2.5 cm in diameter and over 20 cm in length, with a basal stalk 7―8 mm in width and about 7 cm long. Sporophylls are verticillate, with approximately 8-10 in a whorl. On the adaxial side of each sporophyll a sporangium is attached. The strobilus is heterosporous and the microspores are of the Punctatisporites type. Large leaves vary from linear to oblong with entire lateral margins but are slightly lobed at the apex. Small leaves are generally the same as the large leaves but much narrower. The whole plant is probably a small arborescent tree with leafy shoots and strobili forming a crown, rather than a water plant with larger leaves floating on the surface of the water as previously understood. Features of the new species are in favor of the close affinity between Tingia Halle and Noeg- gerathiales, and accordingly the affinity of Noeg- gerathiales to Progymnospermophyta.     

乌鲁木齐祁家沟剖面中上石炭统风暴岩沉积特征

乌鲁木齐祁家沟剖面为北方地槽区中上石炭统的标准剖面。中石炭统祁家沟组和上石炭统奥尔吐组底部为一套风暴流沉积,主要标志有类似Bouma序列的沉积层序、壶模(pot cast)、“口袋状构造”、风暴介壳层、“亚里士多菲库”构造(Aristophycus)、成岩晕圈、丘状层理、液化泄水构造、冲刷-充填构造、冲刷面叠瓦状滞留砾石、定向排列的滞留生物以及撕裂状内碎屑。岩层不稳定,横向变化大。生物均为原地埋藏或经短距离搬运改造的正常浅海生物。     

泛华夏大陆群东南缘多岛弧盆系统

从多岛弧盆体系理论研究思路出发，认为中国华南地区在晚元古代至加里东期，应是由泛华夏大陆群东南缘的多岛弧盆体系组成部分。泛华夏大陆群东南缘多岛弧盆系统从东南向西北由渐闽一云开岛弧、闽粤弧后盆地、武夷山岛弧、湘桂弧后盆地、江南岛弧、雪峰山前陆隆起第几部分组成。它是在古太平洋板块与泛华夏大陆群碰撞与缝合过程中，通过弧－弧、弧－陆、陆－陆碰撞，向前陆盆地演变的持续过程中所形成的。     

A lamprey from the Cretaceous Jehol biota of China

Widespread nowadays in freshwater and coastal seas of the cold and temporal zones, lampreys are a jawless vertebrate group that has been in existence for more than 300 million years but left a meagre fossil record. Only two fossil lamprey species, namely Mayomyzon pieckoensis and Hardistiella montanensis, have been recognized with certainty from North American Carboniferous marine deposits. Here we report a freshwater lamprey from the Early Cretaceous epoch (about 125 million years ago) of Inner Mongolia, China. The new taxon, Mesomyzon mengae, has a long snout, a well-developed sucking oral disk, a relatively long branchial apparatus showing branchial basket, seven gill pouches, gill arches and impressions of gill filaments, about 80 myomeres and several other characters that are previously unknown or ambiguous. Our finding not only indicates Mesomyzon's closer relationship to extant lampreys but also reveals the group's invasion into a freshwater environment no later than the Early Cretaceous. The new material furthers our understanding of ancient lampreys, bridges the gap between the Carboniferous ones and their recent relatives, and adds to our knowledge of the evolutionary history of lampreys.     

中国早石炭世的四射珊瑚组合及主物古地理

中国早石炭世的四射珊瑚可划分为六个组合带，自下而上依序为。１）Ｃｅｒｉｐｈｙｌｌｕｍ　ｅｌｅｇａｔｕｍ　　　　（ＭｅｎｉｓｃｏｐｈｙｌｌｕｍｘｉｎｊｉＡｎｇｅｎｓｅ带大致与之相当），２）Ｃａｎｉｎｉａ　ｄｏｒｌｏｄｏｔｉ或Ｋａｓｓｉｎｅｌｌａ－　　Ｌｏｐｈｏｐｈｙｌｌｕｍ　ｄｅｎｓｕｍ，３）Ｃｙｓｔｏｈｒｅｎｔｉｓ或Ｅｎｙｇｍｏｐｈｙｌｌｕｍ－Ｋａｋｗｉｐｈｙｌｌｕｍ　ｑｉｎｇｈ－ａｉｅｎｓｅ，４）Ｐｓｅｕｄｏｕｒａｌｉｎｉａ　或Ｓｉｐｈｏｎｏｐｈｙｌｌｉａ　ｏｐｐｒｅｓｓａ，５）Ｔｈｙｓａｎｏｐｈｌｌｕｍ　ａｓｉａｔｉｃｕｍ或Ｏｒｉｎａｓｔｒａｅａ　ｈａｉｔｏｕｔａｌａｅｎｓｉｓ－Ｄｏｒｌｏｄｏｔｉａ，６）Ｙｕａｎｏｐｈｙｌｌｕｍ．图乃阶和韦则阶的分界　　或Ｏｒｉｎａｓｔｒａｅａ，６）Ｙｕａｎｏｐｈｙｌｌｕｍ．图乃阶和韦则阶的分界　　划在Ｓｉｐｈｏｎｏｐｈｙｌｌｉａ　ｏｐｐｒｅｓｓａ带的顶部．ＹｕＡｎｏｐｈｙｌｌｕｍ带的时代自韦则晚期延伸至纳缪尔早　　　　期。根据珊瑚动物群的特征区分出三个生物地理区，即天山－祁连区、巴颜喀喇－三江区和扬子　　区，各区相应的代表分予分别为Ｓｉｐｈｏｎｐｈｙｌｌｉａ　ｏｐｐｒ?     

Radiolarian fauna found from Tieshidas Group in East Kunlun

The Tieshidas Group in Qimantag, a branch of the East Kunlun Mountains, was classically considered the Caledonian basement, and classified into Middle-Upper Ordovician, Upper Ordovician or simply Lower Paleozoic. The radiolarian fauna was found, for the first time, from a chert block in the Tieshidas Group at Yaziquandaban (Pass) north to Ayakum Lake. They are Astroentactinia?mirousi Gourmelon, As. cf biaciculata Nazarov, Archocyrtium cf. diductum Deflandre, Ar. aff. diductum Deflandre, Deflandrellium? sp., Entactinia vulgaris Won, En. cf. additiva Foreman, En.? sp., Entactinosphaera palimbola Foreman, Pylentonema? sp., Triaenosphaera sp. and Tr.7 sp. The geological age of this radiolarian fauna is Early Carboniferous. Evidently, the classical interpretation about the age of Tieshidas Group needs to be checked and modified. Except the Ordovician proved with the formerly discovered fossils, it also includes, at least, Lower Carboniferous rocks. There was still an oceanic basin at Qimantag during Early Carboniferous (and even a long geological time after then). Qimantag is not a Caledonian fold belt, and the Tieshidas Group is not the Caledonian basement.     

A new pterosaur (Pterodactyloidea,Tapejaridae) from the Early Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation of western Liaoning,China and its implications for biostratigraphy

In this article we describe a new and exceptionally weel-preserved pterodactyloid pterosaur,Sinopterus dong gen.et sp.nov.from the Jiufotang Formation in western Liaoning Province of northeast China,The new species is referred to the family Tapejaridae,representing its first record outside Brazil.It also represents the earliest occurrence as well as the most complete sketeton of the famil.Some revisions are made about the family according to the mophological observations of the postcranial bones of Sinopterus.Two pterosaur assemblages appear to have existed in the Jehol Group,represented by the lower Yixian Formation and upper Jiufotang Formation,respectively,The lower pterosaur assemblage shows some resembalance to that of the Late Jurassic in Solnhofen (Tithonian)by sharing members of the Pterodactylidae and Anurognathidae.The upper one shows more resemblance to that to the Early Cretaceous Santana Formation (Aptian/Albian) by comprising only pterodactyloids such as the Tapejaridae,The age of the Yixian Formation is younger than that of the Solnhofen lihographic limestone ,and the age of the Jiufotang Formation (Aptian )is slightly older than the Santana Formation.     

两淮煤田太原组的蜓类分带

本文研究的蜒类计有17属91种,包括1未定种。根据蜒类动物群的垂直分布情况,两淮煤田上石炭统太原组可建立Sphaeroschwagerina带,并自下而上进一步细分为2亚带:(1).Quasifusulina gracilis-Boultonia willsi亚带;(2).Sphaeroschwea-gerina subrotunda亚带。必须指出,山西太原组的Triticites simplex带在两淮地区未见到,两淮煤田太原组可能只相当于庙沟石灰岩至东大窑石灰岩的层位,其时代应属晚石炭世中、晚期     

On fossil remains of Early Pleistocene tapir (Perissodactyla, Mammalia) from Fanchang, Anhui

The materials of Tapirus from Renzidong,Fanchang, Anhui Province, are the best ones among the early most Pleistocene findings in China up to now, not only in richness, but also in completeness. The fossils contain complete tooth rows of both the upper and the lower, as well as most parts of the postcranial skeletons. These materials are very helpful in understanding the evolutionary level of this kind of animal. In morphology, the materials from Fanchang appear to be very similar to Tapirus sanyuanensis, and can be placed within this species. The materials from Fanchang provided sound evidence to distinguish the Early Pleistocene tapirs and the living form Tapirus indicus. As to the geological distribution, it can be tentatively concluded that Tapirus sanyuanensis and Tapirus sinensis only appeared in Early Pleistocene, Megatapirus appeared after Early Pleistocene,and lasted until Holocene. The Early Pleistocene tapirs of South China resemble Megatapirus more closely than Tapirus indicus.