A rare lobopod with well-preserved eyes from Chengjiang Lagerst(?)tte and its implications for origin of arthropods

The origin of arthropods has long been one ofthe most hotly-debated subjects. Arthropods used to bethought closely related with annelids, but the two groups arenow believed to be separated into two major realms withinProtostomia on the basis of new molecular data. Although itis generally held by paleontologists that arthropods should berooted in the early lobopods--a kind of worm-like creaturewith non-segmented legs, no intermediate forms have beenfound to bridge them. Here we report an organism with amixture of characters, including features characteristic ofarthropods (e.g., primary cephalization with paired eyes,paired antennae, and preliminary tagmosis) and of lobopods(e.g., worm-like body design, the dorsal spines, andnon-segmented Iimbs or lobe-like legs). The discovery of therare transitional form may throw new light on the origin ofarthropods and suggests that the most primitive arthropodsbegan with paired uniramous legs and the biramous onesevolved later.     

Different fossil brachiopod skeletal microstructure of different information on carbon and oxygen isotope contents

Whether there is isotope fractionation caused by metabolism (vital effect) of bra-chiopods in geologic time with their shells' δ18O and δ13C has been studied intensively in the field of carbonate isotope geochemistry in the last decade. The approach to dealing with the problem is by comparing isotopic compositions between different fossil brachiopods with their secondary shells which usually consist of two kinds of layers: prismatic layer composed of prismatic low-Mg calcite crystals, and fibrous layer comprising fibrous ones. The isotopic compositions of the two secondary layers have been investigated by comparison of carbon and oxygen isotopic compositions between five genera of Atrypidae collected from Givetian, Middle Devonian in Longmenshan, Sichuan Province, China. Due to different microstructures of the two secondary layers, their abilities to prevent from being altered by diagenesis are also different, thus in their state of preservation. The fibrous layer is more susceptible to the diagenetic alternation than the prismatic one in the way of microfracture filling between fibrous crystals in the elongated direction. Consequently, the isotopic compositions of the fibrous layer are systematically lower than those of the prismatic layer in their δ18O and δ13C by (0.53 ± 0.08)‰ and (0. 12 ± 0.04)‰, respectively. This suggests that further studies of vital effects with brachiopod in geological times by comparison of isotopic compositions in the secondary shell take into consideration of the different states of preservation between the fibrous and the prismatic layer.     

Endocasts—the direct evidence and recent advances in the study of human brain evolution

Brain evolution is one of the most important aspects of human evolution,usually studied through endocasts.Analysis of fossil hominid endocasts allows inferences on functional anatomy,physiology,and phylogeny.In this paper,we describe the general features of endocast studies and review some of the major topics in paleoneurology.These are:absolute and relative brain size evolution;brain shape variation;brain asymmetry and lateralization;middle meningeal vessels and venous sinuses;application of computed tomography and virtual imaging;the history of Chinese brain endocast studies.In particular,this review emphasizes endocast studies on Chinese hominin fossils.     

四川马角坝地区飞仙关组的双壳类动物群

文章简述了四川江油马角坝地区下三叠统飞仙关组中的双壳类化石组合特征，描述了１新种（Ｃｌａｒａｉａｊｉａｎｇｙｏｕｅｎｓｉｓ）和１新亚种（Ｃｌａｒａｉａｓｏｎｇｐａｎｅｎｓｉｓｍａｇｎｕｓ），划分出两个双壳类化石带（Ｐｓｅｕ－ｄｏｃｌａｒａｉａｗａｎｇｉ带和Ｅｕｍｏｒｐｈｏｔｉｓｍｕｌｔｉｆｏｒｍｉｓ－Ｃｌａｒａｉａａｕｒｉｔａ－Ｃｌａｒａｉａｓｔａｃｈｅｉ带），刊出了主要化石图版     

共存分析法在兰州盆地渐新世哺乳动物化石研究中的应用

运用共存分析法对甘肃兰州盆地渐新统韩家井组的23种哺乳动物化石进行了分析,重建了该地区渐新世古气候各参数:年均温为-2.8～14.4℃(中值5.8℃),最热月均温为8.0～27.5℃(中值17.75℃),最冷月均温为-4.4～-14.6℃(中值-9.5℃),年较差为23.1～26.2℃(中值24.65℃),年均降水量为...     

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...     

Pre-<Emphasis Type="Italic">Archaeopteryx</Emphasis> coelurosaurian dinosaurs and their implications for understanding avian origins

The last two decades have witnessed great advances in reconstructing the transition from non-avian theropods to avians, but views in opposition to the theropod hypothesis still exist. Here we highlight one issue that is often considered to raise problems for the theropod hypothesis of avian origins, i.e. the “temporal paradox” in the stratigraphic distribution of theropod fossils — the idea that the earliest known avian is from the Late Jurassic but most other coelurosaurian groups are poorly known in the Jurassic, implying that avians arose before their supposed ancestors. However, a number of Jurassic non-avian coelurosaurian theropods have recently been discovered, thus documenting the presence of most of the major coelurosaurian groups in the Jurassic alongside, or prior to, avians. These discoveries have greatly improved the congruence between stratigraphy and phylogeny for derived theropods and, effectively, they reject the “temporal paradox” concept. Most importantly, these discoveries provide significant new information that supports the relatively basal positions of the Tyrannosauroidea and Alvarezsauroidea among the Coelurosauria. Indeed, they imply a new phylogenetic hypothesis for the interrelationships of Paraves, in which Archaeopteryx, the Dromaeosauridae, and the Troodontidae form a monophyletic group while the Scansoriopterygidae, other basal birds, and probably also the Oviraptorosauria, form another clade. Mapping some of the salient features onto a temporally-calibrated theropod phylogeny indicates that characteristics related to flight and arboreality evolved at the base of the Paraves, earlier than the Late Jurassic.     

陕西渭南宋家北沟新近纪/第四纪三门组介形类化石研究

基于对陕西渭南宋家北沟露头剖面的实测,详细描述了新近纪/第四纪三门组的岩性地层及介形化石的垂向分布特征和化石组合划分,鉴定出介形类化石12属27种,识别了线星介-骊山介组合(Lineocypris-Lishania Assemblage)及土星介-小玻璃介组合(Ilyocypris-Candoniella Assemblage).通过介形类化石电镜扫描观察,对其中最具代表性的介形类化石做了壳体表面纹饰研究,划分出多边形近圆网纹纹饰、圆窝形网纹纹饰、锯齿形网纹纹饰、线条状条纹类型、指纹状条纹类型和斑点状纹饰6种类型.