Periodicity of Retzius lines in fossil <Emphasis Type="Italic">Pongo</Emphasis> from South China

Periodicity of Retzius lines is a key factor in dental development. In this study, we examined the periodicity of Retzius lines in fossil Pongo from South China using polarized light microscope observation of dental ground sections. The periodicities all of the 15 teeth were 9 d. Comparisons of periodicity were made with extant primates, fossil apes and hominins. Periodicity of fossil Pongo from South China was relatively long but fell within the variation of extant Pongo, Gorilla and modern human, and longer than periodicity of Pan and other extant primates. Fossil Pongo from South China was similar to Lufengpithecus and Sivapithecus, shorter than Gigantopithecus and longer than European and African fossil apes and most early hominins in periodicity. Generally, the periodicities of Asian large-body fossil apes were longer than the periodicities of European and African large-body fossil apes in Miocene. Difference among species and trend of evolution in periodicity were analyzed and discussed. We found that periodicity might gradually increase from Proconsul in early Miocene to several fossil apes in Miocene and then Gigantopithecus in Pleistocene. In addition, this study made correlate analysis between periodicity and body mass respectively in males and females of six extant apes and five fossil apes, and found that periodicity positively correlated with body mass.     

热河生物群--探索中生代生命演化的世界级化石宝库

最近十多年来,我国在热河生物群各门类生物研究方面取得了一系列重要的发现和成果。我国辽西地区已经成为世界上研究鸟类起源,恐龙的进化,鸟类、哺乳动物以及被子植物的早期演化和辐射等最重要的地区之一。同位素测年技术的广泛应用,表明热河生物群属于早白垩世,在地球上延续了大约2千万年。热河生物群的繁盛和东亚地区当时特有的温暖的淡水和陆地环境具有密切的联系。而频繁的火山活动又是化石得以大量完美保存的重要因素之一。热河生物群的研究还具有很大的潜力,而对化石的科学发掘和保护的任务还十分艰巨。     

鸟类进化中的模糊问题初探

鸟类进化是生物进化的重要组成部分之一,是生物进化论、鸟类学研究的重要内容之一。根据古生物学研究成就,就古亚纲、今鸟亚纲进化、水鸟类形态结构进化中的模糊问题进行了初步探讨。     

2016年古生物学热点回眸

 2016年国际古生物研究领域见证了一系列重要事件和研究热点。本文回顾2016年在地球早期生命研究、琥珀中的特异保存化石、中生代羽毛的颜色的分子证据、志留纪古鱼、早泥盆世植物根系、古DNA等研究方向的重要进展,盘点了国际古生物研究领域的前沿及热点,部分展示了中国古生物学界做出的突出贡献。     

The internal structure of Early Cambrian fossil embryo Olivooides revealed in the light of Synchrotron X-ray Tomographic Microscopy

Countless fossil embryo Olivooides and the hatched larvae,juveniles and adults(the latter two kinds are Punctatus) are recovered by means of acid maceration from the fine-crystalline to medium-crystalline phosphatic limestone and phosphatic micrite of Early Cambrian Kuanchuanpu Formation at the Shizhonggou section,near Kuanchuanpu Village,Ningqiang County,Shaanxi Province,China.Using the technique of Synchrotron X-ray Tomographic Microscopy,the 3D internal structure of Olivooides and Punctatus is reconstructed.The morphological and statistic analyses are also given to the stellae structure of Olivooides and Punctatus,which indicates that this structure is a result of adaptive evolution to a lifestyle of fast-attaching after hatching,probably with the function of mucilage secretion.The internal structure of Punctatus is described and discussed.The ovum-like structure,a common internal feature of Punctatus,is considered as the taphonomic structure,rather than eggs or other biological structure.This structure is thought to be formed after the burial of the animal and before or during the mineralization.The original internal structure of Punctatus is assumed to be tabulae-filled,with soft body grown on them.     

Filamentous cyanobacteria fossils and their significance in the Permian-Triassic boundary section at Laolongdong, Chongqing

The microbial communities blooming immediately after the end-Permian mass extinction represent abnormally extreme environments, and vary in different areas. In this study, filamentous cyanobacterial biota was found in the strata after the extinction in the famous Permian-Triassic boundary section at Laolongdong, Chongqing, southwest China. In thin sections, the filamentous cyanobacterial fossils are below 1 mm in length, and generally taper to one end, with the widest diameter up to 0.08 mm. Some of them are curved, indicating that they are soft in life. Their walls are composed of cryptocrystalline to microcrystalline calcites. The filaments have round cross section, and are internally filled with micrites and fine sparry calcites, which indicate that the filaments are originally empty. They are randomly distributed in the rocks, but in some places, they tend to be distributed in radial pattern. The filamentous organisms are morphologically similar to Rivularia of Rivulariaceae, Cyanobacteria Phylum, but with calcified sheaths, and are tentatively regarded as an indeterminate new species in Rivularia： Rivularia sp. Cyanobacteria are photosynthetic autotrophic, and can survive in dysoxic condition. The blooming of this organism and the absence of other organisms may indicate that the environment was oxygendeficient and shallow, since this photosynthetic autotrophic organism needed to live within photic.     

生物多样性及其进化中的模糊问题研究

生物多样性是现代生物学研究的热门内容之一.根据现代生物学和古生物学研究成就,就生物多样性概念、生物多样性诞生、生物多样性进化中的模糊问题及解决途径进行了研究.     

Peat molecular fossils recording paleoclimatic change and organism replacement

The occurrence of the dominant C₂₃ n-alkane derived from bryophyte was demonstrated to be related to the cold climate, based on the GC and GC/MS analyses on a 40-cm long peat core, in which this compound exponentially varies in abundance with the depth corresponding to the well-known second Little Ice Age. Both the variation of the chemical components of modern bryophyte resulted from climatic change and the ecological data about the biological growth influenced by climate shed light on the point that the variation of this compound in the peat was related to the cold climate. This was also evidenced by the previously-reported lacustrine data. In addition, the variations of the ratios of ketones/esters and C₂₄ n-alkene/n-alkane (C_24︰1/C_24︰0) display the trend identical with that of organisms, implicating the replacement between bryophyte and monocotyledon occurring in the peat core.     

大熊猫地史分布变迁初步研究

作者从化石记录和分子生物学研究等方面介绍了大熊猫的系统演化历程及不同时期的地理分布情况.从出土的化石材料可以看出,大熊猫在地质历史上曾广泛分布于我国长江、黄河及珠江三大流域,包括了从北京周口店至两广以致东南亚一带的广大地区.更新世中、晚期是大熊猫家族演化进程中最繁盛的时期,至晚更新世末期开始转向衰落.在地史分布变迁上,自始熊猫出现以来其分布范围经历了向东、南及北方扩张的过程,而自更新世末期以来则从北、东、南三方向西退缩,现仅残存于四川盆地向青藏高原过渡的高山峡谷地带.大熊猫家族地史分布范围的变化可能既受物种自身生物学特性的影响,同时也与环境的变化息息相关.然而,不同地质历史时期影响大熊猫家族地史分布变迁的主要因素可能并不相同.气候变化和青藏高原的隆起可能是影响更新世大熊猫种群分布的主要环境因素,而自全新世以来,人类活动极大地塑造了大熊猫的空间分布格局.     

Palaeogene fossil <Emphasis Type="Italic">Populus</Emphasis> leaves from Lanzhou Basin and their palaeoclimatic significance

An angiosperm compression flora is found in Palaeogene from Lanzhou Basin and the cuticular analysis of Populus davidiana Dode in the flora is carefully made. Furthermore, the fossil cuticles are compared with the epidermal structures of extant Populus leaves growing in different environments, i.e. moist, semimoist, and semiarid to arid climatic regions. The present experiments indicate that mature leaves of P. davidiana show leaf size from big to small, leaf cuticles from thick to thin and anticlinal walls of epidermal cells from faintness to clarity along with the increase of lattudes of the plant distributions, the climatic variation from moist to arid, the annual precipitation from more to less and the annual mean temperature from high to low. The fossil P. davidiana differs from the specimens collected from Shandan in semiarid to arid climatic regions but closely resembles the Wushan leaves in a semi-moist climatic area in a lot of features. In a word, the new research may reflect that the flora lives in a semi-moist climatic environment. The present discovery of compression of Paleogene Populus davidiana is of great significance to studying vegetation types, climatic and environmental changes during the primal uplifting of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.