Earliest parietal art:hominin hand and foot traces from the middle Pleistocene of Tibet

At Quesang on the Tibetan Plateau we report a series of hand and foot impressions that appear to have been intentionally placed on the surface of a unit of soft...     

An Arctic mammal fauna from the Early Pliocene of North America

A peat deposit on Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada, allows a unique glimpse of the Early Pliocene terrestrial biota north of the Arctic Circle. The peat accumulated in a beaver pond surrounded by boreal larch forest near regional tree line in coastal hills close to the Arctic Ocean. The ecological affinities of the plant and beetle remains contained in the peat indicate that winter temperatures on Ellesmere Island were nearly 15 degrees C higher and summer temperatures 10 degrees C higher than they are today. Here we show that the mammalian remains buried in the peat represent mainly taxa of Eurasiatic zoogeographic and phyletic affinities, including the first North American occurrence of a meline badger (Arctomeles). This deposit contains direct evidence of the composition of an Early Pliocene (4-5 million years ago) arctic mammalian fauna during an active period of interchange between Asia and North America.     

Climatic changes from the late Pliocene to middle Pleistocene in and around central Japan reconstructed from plant macrofossil assemblages

We used composition of plant macrofossil assemblages obtained mainly from the Osaka Group in central Japan to reconstruct the palaeoclimate between the late Pliocene (about 3.3 m.y. B.P.) and the middle Pleistocene (about 0.4 m.y. B.P.). The warmest climate of the period was before 3.0 m.y. B.P. Cool-temperate elements increased and subtropical elements decreased between 3 m.y. B.P. and 2.7 m.y. B.P., indicating the first climatic deterioration. The first occurrence of subarctic elements characterizes the Plio-Pleistocene boundary as a severe cold stage. After 1.1 m.y. B.P., climatic fluctuation occurred at less than 100,000 year intervals. A severe cold stage occurred just after the Jaramillo event (about 0.8 m.y. B.P.). The warmest stage in the middle Pleistocene occurred at about 0.5 m.y. B.P. With it evergreen broad-leaved forest expanded into central Japan. The climatic curves reconstructed from plant macrofossils parallel the climatic changes reconstructed from loess - paleosol stratigraphy in Central China, radiolarian faunal stratigraphy in the north Pacific deep sea drilling core, oxygen-isotope data in the North Pacific, and pollen spectra in western Europe.     

Middle Pleistocene mammalian fauna of Shanyangzhai cave in Qinhuangdao area,China and its zoogeographical significance

The mammalian fauna with clear characteristics of transitional region has been found in the Shanyangzhai cave of the Qin-huangdao area where the three Chinese zoogeographical regions (the Northeast region, the North region and the Mengxin region) join. Abundant fossils mainly are small mammals. The fauna includes typical species derived from three zoogeographical regions and can be compared with the middle Pleistocene faunas found in both the Zhoukoudian (the North region) and the Jinniushan (the Northeast ...     

纳木错流域自然生态特征与生物资源保护研究

在对西藏纳木错流域的自然生态进行实地考察的基础上,将该流域土壤类型划分为8类,主要植物群落确定为4个植被型10个群系.野生动物区系属于青藏区羌塘高原亚区.本区动物组成为古北界成分,其中珍稀保护动物16种.该文还对纳木错动物的地理分布特征和资源的保护利用提出了评价.     

An exceptional Devonian fish from Australia sheds light on tetrapod origins

The transition from fishes to tetrapods was one of the most dramatic events in the evolution of vertebrates, but many pivotal fossils are incomplete, resulting in gaps in the data that are used for phylogenetic reconstruction. Here we present new observations from the most complete, acid-prepared Devonian tetrapodomorph fish yet discovered, Gogonasus, which was previously placed just crownward of Kenichthys and rhizodontids, the most primitive taxa on the tetrapod lineage. Unexpectedly, Gogonasus shows a mosaic of plesiomorphic and derived tetrapod-like features. Whereas the braincase and dermal cranial skeleton exhibit generalized morphologies with respect to Eusthenopteron or Panderichthys, taxa that are traditionally considered to be phyletically close to tetrapods, the presence of a deeply invaginated, wide spiracle, advanced internal spiracular architecture and near-horizontal hyomandibula are specialized features that are absent from Eusthenopteron. Furthermore, the pectoral fin skeleton of Gogonasus shares several features with that of Tiktaalik, the most tetrapod-like fish. A new phylogenetic analysis places Gogonasus crownward of Eusthenopteron as the sister taxon to the Elpistostegalia. Aspects of the basic tetrapod limb skeleton and middle ear architecture can now be traced further back within the tetrapodomorph radiation.     

The ecological sequence of Hipparion fauna in the middle reaches of the Yellow River during Neogene

The faunal ecological type and sequence in the Tertiary red clay indicate that Hipparion fauna during the period 7.4–6.1 Ma in the middle reaches of the Yellow River is composed mainly of dorcadoides and mixed types. This represents semiarid veld environment with small fluctuation. The fossil assemblages characterized by the abundance of gaudryi types and even the occurrence of some Hominoid and Chalicotherium indicate an obviously warm and humi period since 5.3 Ma. The fossil assemblages during 3.4 Ma show the typical steppe fauna representing dry climate. It is indicated by the changes of ecological sequence that the climatic conditions in Pliocene are drier than that in late Miocene. The clay-skin content of red clay, which has a synchronous change with faunal features, is a rather good replacing palaeoclimatic index.     

雅鲁藏布江中上游鱼类区系和资源状况初步调查

根据2006年～2007年4次调查结果,雅鲁藏布江中上游共分布25种鱼类.其中土著鱼类16种,由裂腹鱼亚科、条鳅亚科及鮡科3个类群组成,属典型的高原鱼类区系.高原裸鲤、兰格湖裸鲤和黄斑褶鮡为雅鲁藏布江中上游干支流新纪录种.渔获物主要是由拉萨裸裂尻鱼、双须叶须鱼、异齿裂腹鱼、拉萨裂腹鱼、巨须裂腹鱼等组成,构成鱼类产量的9...     

Pleistocene Homo sapiens from Middle Awash,Ethiopia

The origin of anatomically modern Homo sapiens and the fate of Neanderthals have been fundamental questions in human evolutionary studies for over a century. A key barrier to the resolution of these questions has been the lack of substantial and accurately dated African hominid fossils from between 100,000 and 300,000 years ago. Here we describe fossilized hominid crania from Herto, Middle Awash, Ethiopia, that fill this gap and provide crucial evidence on the location, timing and contextual circumstances of the emergence of Homo sapiens. Radioisotopically dated to between 160,000 and 154,000 years ago, these new fossils predate classic Neanderthals and lack their derived features. The Herto hominids are morphologically and chronologically intermediate between archaic African fossils and later anatomically modern Late Pleistocene humans. They therefore represent the probable immediate ancestors of anatomically modern humans. Their anatomy and antiquity constitute strong evidence of modern-human emergence in Africa.     

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.     

An extant cichlid fish radiation emerged in an extinct Pleistocene lake

The haplochromine cichlid fish of the East African Great Lakes represent some of the fastest and most species-rich adaptive radiations known, but rivers in most of Africa accommodate only a few morphologically similar species of haplochromine cichlid fish. This has been explained by the wealth of ecological opportunity in large lakes compared with rivers. It is therefore surprising that the rivers of southern Africa harbour many, ecologically diverse haplochromines. Here we present genetic, morphological and biogeographical evidence suggesting that these riverine cichlids are products of a recent adaptive radiation in a large lake that dried up in the Holocene. Haplochromine species richness peaks steeply in an area for which geological data reveal the historical existence of Lake palaeo-Makgadikgadi. The centre of this extinct lake is now a saltpan north of the Kalahari Desert, but it once hosted a rapidly evolving fish species radiation, comparable in morphological diversity to that in the extant African Great Lakes. Importantly, this lake seeded all major river systems of southern Africa with ecologically diverse cichlids. This discovery reveals how local evolutionary processes operating during a short window of ecological opportunity can have a major and lasting effect on biodiversity on a continental scale.     

Late Pleistocene human skull from Jingchuan,Gansu Province

Jingchuan human fossil, found in Gansu Province in 1976, was given a preliminary report in 1984, but questions remained con- cerning the age and character of the fossil. We conducted field investigation at Jingchuan in May of 2006 to examine the stratum yielding the human fossil and to obtain sediment samples for optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating. Three samples collected from different stratigraphic levels at the fossil locality yielded OSL dates of 15, 48 and 7.9 thousand years ago (ka), respe...     

An equatorial oscillation in Saturn's middle atmosphere

The middle atmospheres of planets are driven by a combination of radiative heating and cooling, mean meridional motions, and vertically propagating waves (which originate in the deep troposphere). It is very difficult to model these effects and, therefore, observations are essential to advancing our understanding of atmospheres. The equatorial stratospheres of Earth and Jupiter oscillate quasi-periodically on timescales of about two and four years, respectively, driven by wave-induced momentum transport. On Venus and Titan, waves originating from surface-atmosphere interaction and inertial instability are thought to drive the atmosphere to rotate more rapidly than the surface (superrotation). However, the relevant wave modes have not yet been precisely identified. Here we report infrared observations showing that Saturn has an equatorial oscillation like those found on Earth and Jupiter, as well as a mid-latitude subsidence that may be associated with the equatorial motion. The latitudinal extent of Saturn's oscillation shows that it obeys the same basic physics as do those on Earth and Jupiter. Future highly resolved observations of the temperature profile together with modelling of these three different atmospheres will allow us determine the wave mode, the wavelength and the wave amplitude that lead to middle atmosphere oscillation.