Table of Content

15 June 2009, Volume 47 Issue 2

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LARGE MAMMALS FOUND FROM HOULDJIN FORMATION NEAR ERENHOT, NEI MONGOL, CHINA

WANG Ban-Yue, QIU Zhan-Xiang, ZHANG Quan-Zhong, WU Li-Jun, NING Pei-Jie

2009, 47(2):  85-110. 

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The Houldjin Formation was discovered and named by the Third Asiatic Expedition in 1922. Its geological age was first considered as Miocene or later, then varied from Oligocene to Late Eocene because of scarcity of mammalian fossils found in that formation. Since 1985, some additional mammalian fossils have been found. These discoveries have throw more light on its age determination. The micromammalian fossils have already been reported. The large mamma鄄 lian fossils, except paraceratherines, are described here.

A NEW EARLY TO LATE MIOCENE FOSSILIFEROUS REGION IN CENTRAL NEI MONGOL: LITHOSTRATIGRAPHY AND BIOSTRATIGRAPHY IN AOERBAN STRATA

WANG Xiao-Ming, QIU Zhu-Ding, LI Qiang, Yukimitsu TOMIDA, Yuri KIMURA, Zhijie Jack TSENG, WANG Hong-Jiang

2009, 47(2):  111-134. 

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Vertebrate fossil localities of Early Miocene age are rare in north China in general and in Nei Mongol in particular. Here we report a recently discovered, richly fossiliferous Early Miocene through Late Miocene sequence in central Nei Mongol. The new Aoerban strata from Sonid Zuoqi represent one of the longest exposures in the region, spanning up to 50 m in total thickness, and produce fossils along much of the section with distinct lithologies, resulting an easily correlated in situ fossil collection with excellent stratigraphic documentation. Three lithologic units are recognized. We formally name the Aoerban Formation at the lower part of the section, which contains three discrete members of fine-grained sediments altered by paleosols: 1) Lower Red Mudstone Member, 2) Middle Green Mudstone Member, and 3) Upper Red Mudstone Member. Resting disconformably above the Aoerban Formation is the Balunhalagen bed, which is characterized by basal conglomerates followed by orange-colored mudstones and siltstones. Cutting into the Balunhalagen bed is the Bilutu bed, which is another unit of channel gravel sediments and overbank deposits. Paleontologically four discrete faunal units are clearly recognizable, mostly based on small mammals obtained from five wash sites. We distinguish two Early Miocene faunas. The Lower Aoerban Fauna and Upper Aoerban Fauna, produced from the Lower Red Mudstone and Upper Red Mudstone Members, respectively, contain characteristic Early Miocene elements of north China and/or Europe. The Balunhalagen Fauna, derived from the Balunhalagen bed, is characteristic of the Middle to Late Miocene transition. The Bilutu Fauna from the capping Bilutu bed features a mixed composition of Middle and Late Miocene taxa. Both faunal and sedimentological evidence suggest that some of the earlier faunal elements have been reworked into the later Bilutu deposits; thus the Bilutu Fauna is mostly likely of Late Miocene age.

RHINOCEROTIDS (MAMMALIA, PERISSODACTYLA) FROM LUFENGPITHECUS SITE, LUFENG, YUNNAN

DENG TAO, QI GUO-QIN

2009, 47(2):  135-152. 

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The rhinocerotid fossils from the Lufengpithecus site in Lufeng, Yunnan, were collected during the period from 1975 to 1983. They were preliminarily identified as Aceratherium sp. nov. and Chilotherium sp. nov. (Qi, 1979, 1985). A further study of these fossils indicates that they represent a new species of Acerorhinus and a species of Shansirhinus, respectively. In this paper, terminology of rhinocerotid teeth mainly follows Antoine (2002, fig. 72), and that of lower teeth is according to Qiu and Wang (2007, fig. 7). IVPP Loc. and IVPP V are the lo鄄 cality and specimen prefixes of Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chi鄄 nese Academy of Sciences, respectively.

FIRST DISCOVERY OF THE LARGE SHREW, BEREMENDIA (INSECTIVORA, SORICIDAE), FROM THE LOWER PLEISTOCENE OF SOUTH CHINA AND ITS PALEOCLIMATIC IMPLICATIONS

JIN Chang-Zhu,ZHANG Ying-Qi,SUN Cheng-Kai,ZHENG Long-Ting

2009, 47(2):  153-163. 

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A new species of the large shrew, Beremendia jiangnanensis sp. nov., is described here. The materials were excavated from the Early Pleistocene deposits of Renzidong Cave located on the south bank of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, near Fanchang County, Anhui Province, South China. The new species is the largest in the genus. It is morphologically more primitive than B. pohaiensis from China, but more advanced than the type species, B. fissidens, from the lower Pliocene of Europe. Beremendia was initially reported from the Pliocene of northern Europe. It had been widely distributed in the high latitude regions of Europe and central Asia with a high population density, and became extinct by the end of the Middle Pleistocene. In East Asia, however, it appeared later, and was only rarely reported from the Early Pleistocene of North China. The origin of the genus is still unclear. The new species is a typical member of Renzidong fauna which is composed of more than 70 mammals. The analyses of ecological and taxonomic composition of the fauna show that it is noticeably distinct from the known Early Pleistocene faunas from northern and southern China and the modern local fauna for the reason that it is characterized by the coexistence of both Palearctic and Oriental faunal elements. But the Palearctic elements are somewhat predominate. The occurrence of the Palearctic element, Beremendia, as well as Equus sanmeniensis, Hypolagus, Kowalskia, and Mimomys, in the present-day Oriental Region strongly indicates that there was a cooling event during the Early Pleistocene, which drove the Palearctic elements to migrate southwards to the south of Yangtze River. So the southern boundary of the Palearctic Realm was more southernly located than present then. The first discovery of the hygrophilous and cryophylactic large shrew, Beremendia, in the present-day Oriental Region of East China will be helpful to the study of the evolution of Beremendia, and will provide significant information on the shrew’s dispersal events during the Plio-Pleistocene climatic transition and the faunistic development of China during Pleistocene.