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    15 June 2010, Volume 48 Issue 2
    DISCOVERY OF ?CYCLURUS (AMIINAE, AMIIDAE, AMIIFORMES, PISCES) FROM CHINA
    CHANG Mee-Mann, WANG Ning,  WU Fei-Xiang
    2010, 48(2):  85-100. 
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     Described in this paper is a new amiine, ?Cyclurus orientalis, collected from the early to middle Eocene Xiawanpu Formation of Xiawanpu, Xiangxiang City, Hunan Province, China. It is unquestionably an amiine because of the diplospondylous vertebrae of both the normal and alternating types in its preural caudal region, the one-to-one fusion between the ural centra, except the first one, and the hypurals, the absence of the urodermals in the caudal skeleton, and the long dorsal fin. It is referred to ?Cyclurus because its first coronoid carries teeth with rounded tops. It is different from other species of ?Cyclurus in having fewer dorsal fin rays, deeper and shorter body, and fewer vertebrae and centra. During the Eocene when the transpacific distribution pattern reached its maximum, amiines were not uniquely shared by both sides of the Pacific and thus cannot be taken as an indicator of the transpacific distribution. Their wider, northern hemisphere distribution, along with the similar distribution of some other fish groups such as Esocidae and Osteoglossidae, may call for an alternative explanation by other special geological backgrounds.
    A NEW ANTARCTASPID ARTHRODIRE (PLACODERM FISH) FROM THE LOWER DEVONIAN OF GUANGXI, CHINA
    ZHU Min, WANG Jun-Qing,  WANG Shi-Tao
    2010, 48(2):  101-110. 
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    Potangaspis parvoculatus, a new genus and species of the Antarctaspidae (Placodermi: Arthrodira), is described from the early Emsian (Yukiang Formation, Early Devonian) of Pingguo,Guangxi, China. This new form is characterized by small orbits enclosed by skull roof, and long, narrow nuchal plate on which the central and supraorbital sensory canals, middle and posterior pit-lines converge. Phylogenetic analysis corroborates the basal position of the family Antactaspidae amongst the Arthrodira, and suggests a sister group relationship between the new form andAntarctaspis mcmurdoensis from the Middle Devonian of Antarctic, thus providing additional evidence to support the biogeographic proximity between South China and East Gondwana during the early Emsian.
    A NEW OOGENUS OF ELONGATOOLITHIDAE FROM THE UPPER CRETACEOUS CHICHENGSHAN FORMATION OF TIANTAI BASIN,ZHEJIANG PROVINCE
    WANG Qiang, WANG Xiao-Lin, ZHAO Zi-Kui, JIANG Yan-Gen
    2010, 48(2):  111-118. 
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    Dinosaur eggs are abundant in Tiantai, Zhejiang Province, southeastern China. Some egg taxa have been reported, but most of them were not properly erected. Here, we describe a new egg specimen from the Upper Cretaceous Chichengshan Formation of the Tiantai Basin.
    NEWLY DISCOVERED SCHLOSSERIA MAGISTER SKULLS FROM CENTRAL NEI MONGOL, CHINA
    Li Ping, Wang Yuan-Qing
    2010, 48(2):  119-132. 
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    Juvenile skull and skull fragment, together with an adult skull of Schlosseria magister, discovered in Nei Mongol, are described in this paper. The juvenile skull comes from the Arshanto Formation, Huheboerhe section, and represents the first known lophialetid juvenile skull. The adult specimen was discovered in the basal white layer of Erden (Urtyn) Obo, and is the first adult skull of Schlosseria magister ever described. The major differences between the juvenile and adult S. magister skulls lie in the contact of certain bones, the shape of the rostrum, and in some features related to masticatory function. Overall, adult S. magister and Lophialetes expeditus exhibit only minor differences in cranial characteristics. Problems in the classification of lophialetid skulls are also discussed in this paper. 
    ERLIANOMYS COMBINATUS, A PRIMITIVE MYODONT RODENT FROM THE EOCENE ARSHANTO FORMATION, NUHETINGBOERHE, NEI MONGOL, CHINA
    LI Qian, MENG Jin
    2010, 48(2):  133-144. 
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    A new myodont rodent is reported from the lower part of the Arshanto Formation in Nuhetingboerhe of Nei Mongol, which represents one of the earliest and most primitive myodont rodents inAsia. The new species is characterized by several primitive features, such as M1 and M2 subequal in size, anterior cingulum(id) pronounced and having weak or no connection with the protocone and protoconid, presence of a small p4 or dp4 in at least some individuals, the m1 anteroconid weak or absent, protoconid and metaconid isolated, anterolophulid absent, hypoconulid on m2−3 distinct, hypolophid short or extending to the hypoconulid on m2−3, ectolophid weak, mesoloph(id) absent or weak. The new species is most similar to the Asian Aksyiromys, Primisminthus yuenus and other species. The primitive features of the new species suggest that the common ancestor of Eocene myodonts is probably similar to Erlianomys and originated inAsia in Early Eocene.
    TWO NEW PLEISTOCENE SPECIES OF LEPUS (LEPORIDAE, LAGOMORPHA) FROM CHINA
    ZHANG Zhao—Qun
    2010, 48(2):  145-160. 
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    Leporids are a group of widely distributed animals with a long history deep into the Middle Eocene. The earliest leporid fossils so far discovered are Lushilagus described by Li(1965) and Tong et al(1987). The diversity of Leporidae has never been high during its long history. There are only nine extant genera all over the world, and only one genus, Lepus, is living in China. The most abundant fossil materials of Lepus in China were discovered from Zhoukoudian (Choukoutien) localities with well preserved skulls and postcranial bones(Young,1927; Teilhard de Chardin and Pei,1941 etc.). However, identification and systematic study of these fossils have long been hampered by lack of detailed osteological study on the extant species. For a better understanding of the skull characters, the author studied and measured 185 specimens of 8 species of Lepus from China and two specimens of Lepus capensis from South Africa in thecollection of Zoology Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Characters with individual variation and/or age differences include: width of nasal, outline of nasal-frontal suture, size of supraorbital processes, position of the posterior end of incisor foramen, length of the palatinebridge and width of mesopterygoid fossa, development of the squamosal spine, morphology of the upper occipital, and tooth enamel structures etc. Stable characters on adults include: general outline of nasals, lateral depression on the frontal, elevation of the supraorbital processes, depth and width of the temporal fossa, fusion of interparietal with parietal, shape of the anterior groove of upper incisor and cement filling, width of incisive foramen, length of palatine bridge and width of mesopterygoid fossa, morphology of zygomatic, general outline of lower mandible and cheek teeth. Based on the understanding of the skull characters of living species of Lepus and systematic descriptions of the fossils, two new species are erected in this paper,i.e. Lepus teilhardi sp. nov. from CKT(Zhoukoudian) Loc.13 and Lepus ziboensis sp. nov. from Zibo, Shandong Province. One well preserved skull(RV 41023) from CKT Loc.13 described by Teilhard de Chardin and Pei(1941) as Lepus wongi is here selected as the type specimen of Lepus teilhardi sp. nov. Lepus teilhardi sp. nov. is characterized by having large size with skull length longer than 90mm, slightly elevated supraorbital processes with short anterior branch and developed posteriorbranch, shallow lateral depressions on the frontals, medium size of masseteric process, deep masseteric fossa on the zygomatic, width of mesopterygoid fossa obviously larger than the minimum length of palatine bridge, narrow and long incisive foramen, large tympanic bullae, wide ectoccipital,V shaped anterior groove on I2 with some cement filling, and posteriorly inclined coronoid process. Lepus teilhardi differs from L. hainanicus in having a V shaped anterior groove on I2 and less cement filling, gradually narrowing of nasals anteriorly, and much shorter palatine bridge, longer diastema on lower jaw etc.L. comus has a narrow and deep anterior groove on I2, the interparietal not fully fused with parietal and slender lower jaws.L. oiostolus can be distinguished from the new species by having well developed and elevated supraorbital processes, anteriorly extended inner side of the anterior groove on I2, deep lateral depressions on the frontals.L.mandschuricus is smaller, has a wider and shallower anterior groove on I2 without cement fillings, unelevated supraorbital processes and well developed masseteric processes. Though L.timidus is comparable with L. teilhardi in size, it can be distinguished from the latter by having a square shaped cross section of I2 with extremely shallow anterior groove and no cement, wider nasals and more developed supraorbital processes, wider mesopterygoid fossa, and upright coronoid process.L. yarkandensis is smaller in size, has much larger tympanic bullae, shorter distance between the bullae and narrow basioccipital. The ratio of width of mesopterygoid fossa and length of palatine bridge of Lepus teilhardi is comparable with L. sinensis. However, it is larger in size, has wider ventral surface of masseteric processes, deep masseteric fossae, and well developed supraorbitals. Compared with the living L. europaeus,L. teilhardi is smaller with longer palatine bridge and narrower mesopterygoid fossa. Although there is no distinct morphological character to separate with living L. capensis, Lepus teilhardi is larger in size with flatter parietals, and shorter palatine bridge. The Simpson index of 13 morphometric characters also shows obvious difference with larger value. Measurements and statistical analyses can easily separate Lepus teilhardi with Lepus sp. from CKT Loc.20. Fossils described as Lepus wongi from Chenjiawo Homo locality are here assigned to Lepus teilhardi. Fossils from Loc.2 of Sunjiashan Hill, Zibo, Shandong Province are here named as Lepus ziboensis sp. nov. It is characterized by having a narrow and shallow anterior groove on I2 filling with cement, slender rostrum, long palatine bridge, relatively narrow mesopterygoid fossa, and shallow reentrants on P2. Biochronologic analysis shows its late Early Pleistocene age. Lepus ziboensis is by far the earliest record of Lepus from China.
    RECOVERING THE MISSING DATA OF DEFECTIVE FOSSIL SPECIMENS USING LINEAR REGRESSION METHOD
    WANG Shi-Qi DENG Tao
    2010, 48(2):  161-168. 
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    In multivariate statistical analyses, intact specimens are essentially required. In order to help researchers avoid having to discard many defective fossil specimens or greatly reduce the number of variables in their analyses, we developed a method based on the theory of linear regression for recovering missing data for defective fossil specimens. Using this method, missing value of measurements can be predicted based on other intact or defective equivalent specimens. Numerical tests have been carried out on the head and limb bones of extant Equus. The results show that our method, which is relatively insensitive to the quantity, preservational quality and type of available specimens, has satisfactory stability. The predictive accuracy is best for large specimens or measurements of large magnitude. Furthermore, our method is distinct from traditional linear regression methods in utilizing linear correlations between specimens rather than between variables, since the correlations are usually stronger in the case of the former procedure. Our method is simple in theory and practice, and should be broadly applicable to statistical analyses of fossil specimens, particularly if multivariate.