松属植物地质历史及生物地理演变

松属(Pinus L.)约113种,是松科现代属中最原始的类群。松属植物种类丰富且研究领域广泛,对其已经积累的资料数据进行系统梳理总结十分必要。本文通过总结国内外松属大化石资料,结合分子系统发育、地质背景和地理隔离事件讨论了其地史分布及植物地理学意义;该属化石在早白垩世至全新世地层中均有记录。化石证据表明松属很可能在早白垩世(之前)起源于西欧地区,从这一起源地通过北大西洋陆桥扩散到北美洲东部,而东亚的类群可能是从北美洲西部经过白令陆桥散布的。在晚白垩世分化出双维管束松亚属Subgenus Pinus L.及单维管束松亚属Subgenus Strobus (D.Don) Lemmon,前者更接近祖先类群。古新世由于全球显著增温以及白垩纪末期大灭绝等地质事件的影响使松属数量急剧减少,在晚始新世至中新世时期随着气温转凉转冷再次分化扩散,中新世达到其发展高峰且分布面貌与现代类群近似。松属多样性时空历史可能和新生代气候变迁及晚新生代构造运动塑造的山地隆升等环境变化紧密相关。     

New data on Mustelidae (Carnivora) from Southeast Asia: Siamogale thailandica, a peculiar otter-like mustelid from the late middle Miocene Mae Moh Basin, northern Thailand

We report new dental remains of Mustelidae from the late middle Miocene of Mae Moh Basin, northern Thailand, improving the poor fossil record of the family in Southeast Asia. Siamogale thailandica is a poorly known mustelid, previously recorded from just a single tooth. Here we present over a hundred new specimens attributable to this species. S. thailandica shows a combination of primitive and convergent features of the dentition that makes its original subfamilial assignment to Lutrinae doubtful. Evidence from the dental morphology suggests that it belongs to a bunodont otter-like mustelid that evolved in convergence with “true” otters (Lutrinae) toward a semi-aquatic way of life. Autapomorphic features such as the height and the position of the m1 metaconid and the shape of the P4 lingual shelf make S. thailandica unique among Mustelidae. The morphology of this species is mostly similar to Mionictis species and Lartetictis dubia, reported in the Miocene of North America and Europe, respectively. These similarities could imply immigration events to Thailand in the early or middle Miocene. Alternately, the lineage leading to Siamogale might have deeper origins from an endemic early Miocene Southeast Asian mustelid.     

Asian gliriform origin for arctostylopid mammals

Arctostylopids are common in Late Palaeocene and Early Eocene mammal faunas of Asia, but they are rare in North America. From the time of their first discovery, arctostylopids were grouped with the strictly endemic South American Notoungulata based on their strikingly similar dental morphology. This relationship was challenged based on dental morphology of more recently discovered arctostylopids and on supposed tarsal morphology (based on unassociated material) of the Asian arctostylopid Palaeostylops. Therefore, Arctostylopidae were placed in a separate order, Arctostylopida, of enigmatic affinities. Many authors, however, continue to unite Arctostylopidae and Notoungulata based on dental similarities. In the Late Palaeocene Subeng site in Inner Mongolia, we identified the Palaeostylops tarsals based on their size and abundance. This identification is supported by comparison to unpublished Arctostylops tarsals from the North American Clarkforkian, derived from a semi-articulated skeleton also including dental material. Tarsal morphology shows moderate similarity to the gliriform Pseudictops, and strong resemblance to the tarsally conservative gliroid Rhombomylus. Hence, Arctostylopidae may best be grouped with Asian non-gliroid Gliriformes, which we interpret as having dispersed into North America in the Late Palaeocene.Pieter Missiaen is an aspirant of the Research Foundation-Flanders (RF-Flanders)     

Three Ways To Be a Saber-Toothed Cat

 Saber-toothed carnivores, until now, have been divided into two groups: scimitar-toothed cats with shorter, coarsely serrated canines coupled with long legs for fast running, and dirk-toothed cats with more elongate, finely serrated canines coupled to short legs built for power rather than speed. In the Pleistocene of North America, as in Europe, the scimitar-cat was Homotherium; the North American dirk-tooth was Smilodon. We now describe a new sabercat from the Early Pleistocene of Florida, combining the scimitar-tooth canine with the short, massive limbs of a dirk-tooth predator. This presents a third way to construct a saber-toothed carnivore. Received: 6 February 1999 / Accepted in revised from: 20 October 1999     

A new bolosaurid parareptile, Belebey chengi sp. nov., from the Middle Permian of China and its paleogeographic significance

A new bolosaurid parareptile, Belebey chengi sp. nov., is described from Dashankou, Gansu Province, China, a Middle Permian locality which is known mostly for its therapsid fauna. The material consists of well-preserved mandibular and anterior skull remains and currently represents the largest and latest surviving member of Bolosauridae. Phylogenetic analysis of bolosaurid interrelationships, the first analysis of any clade of Early Permian parareptiles, indicates that the new taxon groups consistently with the other (Russian) members of the genus Belebey, and forms the sister clade to the genus Bolosaurus from North America. The Early Permian Eudibamus cursoris from Germany falls into the basal most position within Bolosauridae. Our analysis also shows that the split between the main bolosaurid lineages must have occurred near or before the Permo-Carboniferous boundary and that the paleo-equatorial region of Laurasia probably served as the center of origination for these parareptiles. A similar pattern can be found in other clades of Paleozoic amniotes, suggesting that this may be the general trend in early amniote evolution.     

Did ice-age bovids spread tuberculosis?

Pathognomonic metacarpal undermining is a skeletal pathology that has been associated with Mycobacterium tuberculosis in bovids. Postcranial artiodactyl, perissodactyl, and carnivore skeletons were examined in major university and museum collections of North America and Europe for evidence of this and other pathology potentially attributable to tuberculosis. Among nonproboscidean mammals from pre-Holocene North America, bone lesions indicative of tuberculosis were restricted to immigrant bovids from Eurasia. No bone lesions compatible with diagnosis of tuberculosis were found in large samples of other pre-Holocene (164 Oligocene, 397 Miocene, and 1,041 Plio–Pleistocene) North American mammals, including 114 antilocaprids. Given the unchanged frequency of bovid tubercular disease during the Pleistocene, it appears that most did not die from the disease but actually reached an accommodation with it (as did the mastodon) (Rothschild and Laub 2006). Thus, they were sufficiently long-lived to assure greater spread of the disease. The relationships of the proboscidean examples need further study, but present evidence suggests a Holarctic spread of tuberculosis during the Pleistocene, with bovids acting as vectors. While the role of other animals in the transmission of tuberculosis could be considered, the unique accommodation achieved by bovids and mastodons makes them the likely “culprits” in its spread.     

A new Early Oligocene peradectine marsupial (Mammalia)from the Burqin region of Xinjiang,China

Tertiary marsupial records are very scarce in Asia. A new peradectine marsupial, Junggaroperadectes burqinensis gen. et sp. nov., is reported from the Early Oligocene Keziletuogayi Formation in the Burqin region, Xinjiang, China. This new species is based on a single right upper M2. The tooth possesses a straight centrocrista, a characteristic of peradectines. Its main cusps lean buccally, with the paracone being smaller and lower than the metacone. The conules and stylar cusps are weakly developed. These characters distinguish J. burqinensis from Euro-American Tertiary peradectines, but they also imply a close phylogenetic relationship to Siamoperadectes and Sinoperadectes, two Asian Early Miocene peradectines.     

Evidence for high taxonomic and morphologic tyrannosauroid diversity in the Late Cretaceous (Late Campanian) of the American Southwest and a new short-skulled tyrannosaurid from the Kaiparowits formation of Utah

The fossil record of late Campanian tyrannosauroids of western North America has a geographic gap between the Northern Rocky Mountain Region (Montana, Alberta) and the Southwest (New Mexico, Utah). Until recently, diagnostic tyrannosauroids from the Southwest were unknown until the discovery of Bistahieversor sealeyi from the late Campanian of New Mexico. Here we describe an incomplete skull and postcranial skeleton of an unusual tyrannosaurid from the Kaiparowits Formation (Late Cretaceous) of Utah that represents a new genus and species, Teratophoneus curriei. Teratophoneus differs from other tyrannosauroids in having a short skull, as indicated by a short and steep maxilla, abrupt angle in the postorbital process of the jugal, laterally oriented paroccipital processes, short basicranium, and reduced number of teeth. Teratophoneus is the sister taxon of the Daspletosaurus + Tyrannosaurus clade and it is the most basal North American tyrannosaurine. The presence of Teratophoneus suggests that dinosaur faunas were regionally endemic in the west during the upper Campanian. The divergence in skull form seen in tyrannosaurines indicates that the skull in this clade had a wide range of adaptive morphotypes.     

A giant termite from the Late Miocene of Styria, Austria (Isoptera)

A giant termite is described and figured from the Late Miocene of the Styrian Basin in southeastern Austria. Gyatermes styriensis gen. n. et sp. n. is represented by a relatively complete forewing, with basal scale. The fossil approximates in size the largest of all termites today and is the largest fossil termite on record. The presence of this species in the Late Miocene fauna of Europe indicates that climatic conditions were appropriate for the persistence of species and colonies requiring relatively stable, warm conditions. The genus is primitive in overall features but shares some similarity with the dampwood termites.     

A new phylogeny for basal Trechnotheria and Cladotheria and affinities of South American endemic Late Cretaceous mammals

The endemic South American mammals Meridiolestida, considered previously as dryolestoid cladotherians, are found to be non-cladotherian trechnotherians related to spalacotheriid symmetrodontans based on a parsimony analysis of 137 morphological characters among 44 taxa. Spalacotheriidae is the sister taxon to Meridiolestida, and the latter clade is derived from a primitive spalacolestine that migrated to South America from North America at the beginning of the Late Cretaceous. Meridiolestida survived until the early Paleocene (Peligrotherium) and early Miocene (Necrolestes) in South America, and their extinction is probably linked to the increasing competition with metatherian and eutherian tribosphenic mammals. The clade Meridiolestida plus Spalacotheriidae is the sister taxon to Cladotheria and forms a new clade Alethinotheria. Alethinotheria and its sister taxon Zhangheotheria, new clade (Zhangheotheriidae plus basal taxa), comprise Trechnotheria. Cladotheria is divided into Zatheria (plus stem taxa, including Amphitherium) and Dryolestida, including Dryolestidae and a paraphyletic array of basal dryolestidans (formerly classified as “Paurodontidae”). The South American Vincelestes and Groebertherium are basal dryolestidans.     

Earliest and first Northern Hemispheric hoatzin fossils substantiate Old World origin of a “Neotropic endemic”

The recent identification of hoatzins (Opisthocomiformes) in the Miocene of Africa showed part of the evolution of these birds, which are now only found in South America, to have taken place outside the Neotropic region. Here, we describe a new fossil species from the late Eocene of France, which constitutes the earliest fossil record of hoatzins and the first one from the Northern Hemisphere. Protoazin parisiensis gen. et sp. nov. is more closely related to South American Opisthocomiformes than the African taxon Namibiavis and substantiates an Old World origin of hoatzins, as well as a relictual distribution of the single extant species. Although recognition of hoatzins in Europe may challenge their presumed transatlantic dispersal, there are still no North American fossils in support of an alternative, Northern Hemispheric, dispersal route. In addition to Opisthocomiformes, other avian taxa are known from the Cenozoic of Europe, the extant representatives of which are only found in South America. Recognition of hoatzins in the early Cenozoic of Europe is of particular significance because Opisthocomiformes have a fossil record in sub-Saharan Africa, which supports the hypothesis that extinction of at least some of these “South American” groups outside the Neotropic region was not primarily due to climatic factors.     

Middle-Eocene artiodactyls from Shanghuang (Jiangsu Province,Coastal China) and the diversity of basal dichobunoids in Asia

A new assemblage of basal dichobunoid artiodactyls from the middle-Eocene Shanghuang fissure fillings includes the diacodexeid Jiangsudon shanghuangensis gen. and sp. nov., a new species of the lantianine dichobunoid Elaschitotherium, Elaschitotherium crepaturus sp. nov., and an indeterminate suoid which is presently the earliest record of this clade. Diacodexeids are also represented by two forms provisionally referred to cf. Diacodexis sp. and to an indeterminate Diacodexeidae, respectively. The occurrence of diacodexeids in Shanghuang contrasts with the early and earliest middle-Eocene chronological range of the family in Europe and North America and suggests that the stratigraphic range of the family in Asia extends up to the middle Eocene. This may reflect particular habitats in coastal China that may have been relatively stable during the early and middle Eocene, thus preserving forest-dwelling artiodactyls that became extinct in the other Holarctic regions. Compared to other supposedly coeval North American, European, and Asian faunas, the Shanghuang mammalian assemblage is most similar to early Uintan faunas of North America but is also remarkable in recording forms close to taxa that are characteristic of the Wasatchian and Bridgerian North American Land Mammal Ages. The Irdinmanhan age of the Shanghuang fauna is supported by the mammalian assemblage recovered from the fissure D, but an Arshantan age cannot be completely ruled out at this point. Although the Shanghuang assemblage is biased towards preservation of small components of the mammalian fauna, the Shanghuang fauna provide an important and unique window into the Eocene diversity and early evolution of cetartiodactyls in eastern Asia.     

中中新世气候适宜期西北内陆干旱区气候演化特征

中中新世气候适宜期是距离现今最近的一个未受人类活动影响的气候适宜阶段,现有记录大多显示全球在中中新世气候适宜期期间气候以暖湿为特征。我国西北内陆干旱区作为北半球中纬度面积最大的干旱带的重要组成部分,其气候如何响应全球中中新世气候适宜期的气候变化对预测全球变暖背景下西北内陆干旱区气候变化趋势及实现生态建设具有重要的指导意义。本文总结了西北内陆干旱区具有年代控制的15个剖面的孢粉、同位素、磁化率等19项记录,并选取各记录中指示意义明确的气候代用指标进行集成、分析,发现多数剖面在中中新世气候适宜期的不同时段出现了湿润化特征,但湿润化的出现、结束时间不同,自西向东,湿润事件结束(或适宜期后干旱化增强事件出现)的时间变晚。推测西北内陆干旱区中中新世气候适宜期的气候演化主要受全球气候变化影响,但湿润事件结束或适宜期后干旱化增强事件出现及其呈现出的时空差异则受区域构造活动及气候系统等因素控制。     

Survival of Theriosuchus (Mesoeucrocodylia: Atoposauridae) in a Late Cretaceous archipelago: a new species from the Maastrichtian of Romania

Small terrestrial non-eusuchian mesoeucrocodylians are common components of Cretaceous assemblages of Gondwanan provinces with notosuchians and araripesuchids as flagship taxa in South America, Africa and Madagascar, well into the Late Cretaceous. On the other hand, these are exceedingly rare in Laurasian landmasses during the Late Cretaceous. Small terrestrial mesoeucrocodylians from Europe were often referred to the genus Theriosuchus, a taxon with stratigraphic range extending from the Late Jurassic to the late Early Cretaceous. Theriosuchus is abundantly reported from various European localities, although Asiatic and possibly North American members are also known. It has often been closely associated with the first modern crocodilians, members of the Eusuchia, because of the presence of procoelous vertebrae, a widespread key character diagnosing the Eusuchia. Nevertheless, the relationships of Theriosuchus have not been explored in detail although one species, Theriosuchus pusillus, has been extensively described and referred in numerous works. Here, we describe a new basal mesoeucrocodylian, Theriosuchus sympiestodon sp. nov. from the Maastrichtian of the Haţeg Basin, Romania, suggesting a large temporal gap (about 58 myr) in the fossil record of the genus. Inclusion of the new taxon, along with Theriosuchus guimarotae, in a phylogenetic analysis confirms its referral to the genus Theriosuchus, within a monophyletic atoposaurid clade. Although phylogenetic resolution within this clade is still poor, the new taxon appears, on morphological grounds, to be most closely related to T. pusillus. The relationships of Atoposauridae within Mesoeucrocodylia and especially to Neosuchia are discussed in light of the results of the present contribution as well as from recent work. Our results raise the possibility that Atoposauridae might not be regarded as a derived neosuchian clade anymore, although further investigation of the neosuchian interrelationships is needed. Reports of isolated teeth referable to a closely related taxon from the Upper Cretaceous of Romania and France, together with the presence of Doratodon and Ischyrochampsa, indicate a previously unsuspected diverse assemblage of non-eusuchian mesoeucrocodylians in the Late Cretaceous European archipelago.     

Cretaceous choristoderan reptiles gave birth to live young

Viviparity (giving birth to live young) in fossil reptiles has been known only in a few marine groups: ichthyosaurs, pachypleurosaurs, and mosasaurs. Here, we report a pregnant specimen of the Early Cretaceous Hyphalosaurus baitaigouensis, a species of Choristodera, a diapsid group known from unequivocal fossil remains from the Middle Jurassic to the early Miocene (about 165 to 20 million years ago). This specimen provides the first evidence of viviparity in choristoderan reptiles and is also the sole record of viviparity in fossil reptiles which lived in freshwater ecosystems. This exquisitely preserved specimen contains up to 18 embryos arranged in pairs. Size comparison with small free-living individuals and the straight posture of the posterior-most pair suggest that those embryos were at term and had probably reached parturition. The posterior-most embryo on the left side has the head positioned toward the rear, contrary to normal position, suggesting a complication that may have contributed to the mother’s death. Viviparity would certainly have freed species of Hyphalosaurus from the need to return to land to deposit eggs; taking this advantage, they would have avoided intense competition with contemporaneous terrestrial carnivores such as dinosaurs.     

Listriodon guptai Pilgrim, 1926 (Mammalia, Suidae) from the early Miocene of the Bugti Hills, Balochistan, Pakistan: new insights into early Listriodontinae evolution and biogeography

New dental remains of listriodont suids are described from the lower member of the early to middle Miocene Vihowa Formation of the Bugti Hills, Pakistan. The material is homogeneous in terms of morphology and dimensions and referred as a whole to Listriodon guptai Pilgrim, 1926. This species is also mentioned in coeval deposits of the Zinda Pir Dome, Pakistan, dating back to ca. 19 Ma. The early occurrence of an advanced listriodont in Pakistan constrains the age of acquisition of several characters correlated to lophodonty within Listriodontini, and raises major questions about the early history of the Old World Listriodontinae. Strong morphological similarity between Listriodon guptai and the African species Listriodon akatikubas found in the late early Miocene of Maboko (Kenya, ca. 16.5 Ma) suggests that this latter is most probably a migrant originating from Asia.     

New postcrania of Deccanolestes from the Late Cretaceous of India and their bearing on the evolutionary and biogeographic history of euarchontan mammals

Extant species of the supraordinal mammal clade Euarchonta belong to the orders Primates, Scandentia, or Dermoptera. The fossil record of euarchontans suggests that they underwent their initial radiation during the Paleocene (65–55 million years ago) in North America, Eurasia, and Africa. The time and place of origin is poorly resolved due to lack of definitive fossils of euarchontan stem taxa. We describe a fragmentary humerus and two fragmentary ulnae from the latest Cretaceous of India that bear significantly on this issue. The fossils are tentatively referred to Deccanolestes cf. hislopi due to their small size and the fact that Deccanolestes is the only eutherian dental taxon to have been recovered from the same locality. The new fossils are used to evaluate the existing behavioral hypothesis that Deccanolestes was arboreal, and the competing phylogenetic hypotheses that Deccanolestes is a stem eutherian versus a stem euarchontan. The humerus resembles those of euarchontans in possessing a laterally keeled ulnar trochlea, a distinct zona conoidea, and a spherical capitulum. These features also suggest an arboreal lifestyle. The ulnar morphology is consistent with that of the humerus in reflecting an arboreal/scansorial animal. Detailed quantitative comparisons indicate that, despite morphological correlates to euarchontan-like arboreality, the humerus of Deccanolestes is morphologically intermediate between those of Cretaceous “condylarthran” mammals and definitive Cenozoic euarchontans. Additionally, humeri attributed to adapisoriculids are morphologically intermediate between those of Deccanolestes and definitive euarchontans. If adapisoriculids are euarchontans, as recently proposed, our results suggest that Deccanolestes is more basal. The tentative identification of Deccanolestes as a basal stem euarchontan suggests that (1) Placentalia began to diversify and Euarchonta originated before the Cretaceous–Tertiary boundary and (2) the Indian subcontinent, Eurasia, and Africa are more likely places of origin for Euarchonta than is North America.     

A new Dasypodini armadillo (Xenarthra: Cingulata) from San Gregorio Formation,Pliocene of Venezuela: affinities and biogeographic interpretations

We describe Pliodasypus vergelianus gen. et sp. nov., a Dasypodini armadillo from the middle Pliocene of Venezuela (Vergel Member, San Gregorio Formation). Although scarce, the remains are remarkable because of their geochronologic proximity to the main phase of Great American Biotic Interchange (GABI). The cladistic analysis conducted reveals that Pliodasypus groups with Dasypus and both are sister taxa of Propraopus, whereas Anadasypus is at a basal position. With respect to the records of tribe Dasypodini, after its oldest representative (Anadasypus, middle and late Miocene), the chronologically subsequent form is Pl. vergelianus (middle Pliocene), followed by Dasypus bellus in higher northern latitudes (late Pliocene), and then by widespread occurrences in the Pleistocene of North America (D. bellus) and South America (Propraopus, Dasypus punctatus, and Dasypus novemcinctus). Thus, we infer that Dasypus differentiated in the late Pliocene at low latitudes in the northern South America. It leads to two alternative hypotheses of dispersal: (a) some early Dasypus remained cryptically in South America until the Pleistocene, whereas others dispersed to North America between 2.2 and 2.7 Ma, or (b) they dispersed to North America subsequently to the emersion of the Panamanian isthmus and D. bellus differentiated there; later, during the Pleistocene, D. bellus entered South America and experienced speciation. The same process of re-ingression has been proposed to other xenarthrans, breaking with the traditional assumption that the GABI was unidirectional.     

Gastroliths in<Emphasis Type="Italic"> Yanornis</Emphasis>: an indication of the earliest radical diet-switching and gizzard plasticity in the lineage leading to living birds?

Yanornis martini is an Early Cretaceous basal ornithurine bird. Its fish-eating diet was previously recognized from a discrete mass of disarticulated fish remains discovered in its abdominal region. A new complete and articulated specimen of Yanornis martini preserves abundant in-situ gastroliths such as have been associated with a herbivorous diet. We suggest that the occurrence of gastroliths in this specimen, fish remains in a second, and the lack of gastroliths in three others, is consistent with diet-switching in Yanornis martini. Incompatibility of the preserved data with explanations of the grit as an artifact of preservation or result of accidental ingestion is discussed. This discovery indicates the earliest presence of intermittent diet change (and associated gizzard plasticity) observed in extant birds seasonally and in response to changes in available food sources.     

The oldest African fox (Vulpes riffautae n. sp., Canidae, Carnivora) recovered in late Miocene deposits of the Djurab desert, Chad

We report on the oldest fox (Canidae) ever found in Africa. It is dated to 7 Ma based on the degree of evolution of the whole fauna. It belongs to a new species. Its overall size and some morphological characteristics distinguish the Chadian specimen from all the other foxes. The presence of Vulpes and of the genus Eucyon in slightly younger African locality, as well as in southwestern Europe in the late Miocene, may indicate that canids migrated in Europe from Africa through a trans-Mediterranean route.