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[dinosaur] Otogopterus, new pterosaur from Inner Mongolia + Early Cretaceous pterosaur faunas of China + more



Ben Creisler
bcreisler@gmail.com

Some recent papers in Chinese not yet mentioned:

Free pdf:

Otogopterus haoae gen.et sp. nov.

JI Shu'an & ZHANG Lifu (2020)
A new Early Cretaceous pterosaur from the Ordos region, Inner Mongolia.
Earth Science Frontiers 27(6): 365-370 Â Â
DOI: 10.13745/j.esf.sf.2020.6.14
http://www.earthsciencefrontiers.net.cn/CN/abstract/abstract6008.shtml


The western Ordos region in Inner Mongolia, including Hanggin Banner and Otog Banner, is one of the most important localities yielding the Early Cretaceous Psittacosaurus Fauna across northern China. No pterosaur material had been formally depicted until Ordosipterus planignathus was named and described in the early 2020. Here, we report a new partial pterosaur mandibular symphysis discovered at the Zhaoshao site in the Luohandong Formation in Otog Banner. Its mandibular symphysis is long and straight and bears a developed lateral ridge that divided the dentary lateral side into the upper and lower parts. Nearly round dentary alveoli of each side lie just above the lateral ridge along a straight line anteroposteriorly. The diameters of alveoli (22.5 mm) vary slightly from rostral to caudal. The distance between the adjacent alveoli is about half the diameter of either alveolus. The tooth density is 3 teeth per centimeter. This pterosaur could be assigned to the family Ctenochasmatidae, it represents a new taxon-Otogopterus haoae gen.et sp.nov. The generic name refers to the type locality (Otog Banner) of this pterosaur, and the species name is in honour of Prof. Hao Yichun, who made outstanding contributions on the Mesozoic paleontology and stratigraphy in China. This new fossil is the second definitive pterosaur kind in the Inner Mongolian Ordos region following Ordosipterus planignathus, further enriching the components of the Early Cretaceous vertebrate fauna in this region. This pterosaur is also the second ctenochasmatid taxon in the Ordos Basin, after Huanhepterus quingyangensis from eastern Gansu Province. The new finding enlarged the geographical distribution of ctenochasmatid pterosaurs in the Ordos Basin and revealed the Ordos Basin to be another important distribution area of Ctenochasmatidae in China.

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Free pdf:

WANG Xiaolin, LI Yang, QIU Rui, JIANG Shunxing, ZHANG Xinjun, CHEN He, WANG Junxia & CHENG Xin (2020)
Comparison of biodiversity of the Early Cretaceous pterosaur faunas of China.
Earth Science Frontiers 27(6): 347-364 Â Â
DOI: 10.13745/j.esf.sf.2020.6.19
http://www.earthsciencefrontiers.net.cn/CN/abstract/abstract6007.shtml


A large number of continental basins in northeastern and northwestern China contain abundant vertebrate fossils in lacustrine deposits. Among them, the Wuerho Pterosaur Fauna from the Junggar Basin on the north side of the Tian Shan Mountains, the Hami Pterosaur Fauna from the Turpan-Hami Basin on the south side of the Tian Shan Mountains, and the Jehol Biota of western Liaoning, all bear rich pterosaur fossils. The former two faunas of northwestern China shared similar prosperous time and were both discovered in the Lower Cretaceous Tugulu Group. Pterosaur diversity of these two faunas is low but the faunas included abundant individuals. Fossils of the Wuerho Pterosaur Fauna, preserved mostly in the fine-sandstones and siltstones of the semi-deep lacustrine deposits, were relatively complete and formed by normal death. The fossils of the Hami Pterosaur Fauna were largely preserved in the tempestites of the event deposits of a shore-shallow lake. The disarticulated bones were complete after the short-distance transport by storms and a fast burial. By contrast, the pterosaurs of the Jehol Biota of northeastern China have high diversity as well as an association with fishes, amphibians, dinosaurs and other reptiles, and birds and mammals, They were mainly preserved in the semi-deep to deep lacustrine shales. The skeletons are relatively complete, as a volcanic eruption caused massive death and fast burial (by volcanic ashes) creating a very different outlook from that of the two northwestern faunas. Based on the preliminary comparison of the pterosaur faunas from the south and north sides of the Tian Shan Mountains, we inter that the dominant pterosaurs on the north side, dsungaripterids, are distributed in the Junggar Basin and neighboring western Mongolia, that they have a distant relationship with the only known taxon, Hamipterus, from the faunas from the south side. Hence, we have proposed that the Tian Shan Mountains rose to a relatively high level in the Mesozoic, blocking the migration of the faunas from both sides of the mountains. In western Liaoning and its neighboring regions, the destruction of the North China Craton caused abundant volcanic eruptions, which created a highly diversified ecological environment with rapid replacements of creatures thus resulting in unique biodiversity in the Jehol Biota. However, the continental basins in northwestern China, which experienced no volcanic eruption, have low diversity but high abundancy of pterosaurs. Therefore, we proposed that the frequent and intense volcanic eruptions caused by the destruction of the North China Craton played an essential role in the varying diversity between the pterosaur faunas of northeastern and northwestern China.

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Free pdf:

ZHOU Yuxuan, HU Haiqian, DAI Hui, TAN Chao, YANG Wenguang & ZHANG Hongliang (2020)
The discovery of dinosaurs from the Middle Jurassic Xintiangou Formation in Xinjin Township Yunyang Chongqing and its sedimentary environment
Geological Bulletin of China 39(10): 1527-1537
http://dzhtb.cgs.cn/gbcen/ch/reader/view_abstract.aspx?file_no=20201004&flag=1

free pdf:
http://dzhtb.cgs.cn/gbcen/ch/reader/create_pdf.aspx?file_no=20201004&year_id=2020&quarter_id=10&falg=1


Recently, a large number of dinosaur fossils were found in the Middle Jurassic Xintiangou Formation in Xinjin Township, Yunyang County, Chongqing, and the dinosaur fossils were intermixed with fishes, turtles, plesiosaurs and bivalves.This is the first discovery in the Xintiangou Formation.The Xintiangou Formation in the study area is preliminarily determined to be a littoral-shallow lake subfacies and partly a flood-pan subfacies, as shown by field measured section, rock features, sedimentary structure, paleontological features and grain size characteristics.The discovery of the fossil assemblage of Xintiangou Formation in Chongqing area provides more evidence for the study of Mesozoic fossil and paleoenvironment in the Sichuan basin.


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Zhou Cui & Qian Maiping (2020)
Discussion on "Chilantaisaurus zhejiangensis".
Journal of Geology 44(3): 283-287
http://www.journalofgeology1977.com/ch/reader/view_abstract.aspx?file_no=20200308&flag=1


Since it was first described and named in 1964, the âChilantaisaurusâ has long been considered a large predatory dinosaur of the family Allosauridae, once including four species. But as research progressed, the genus disintegrated. Among them, the type species "C. tashuikouensis" and "C. sibiricus" were classified into Spinosauria or Neotetanurane. "C. maortuensis" was placed in the Carcharodontosaurid group and renamed Shaochilong maortuensis. The "C. zhejiangensis" discussed by the author is the only extant foot bone fossil specimen of this type, which is estimated to be a large and medium-sized dinosaur(Theropoda) with a body length of about 5 m. Through the comparison with other large and medium-sized Theropoda fossils of the same site, it can be seen that it has many common characteristics of the Theropoda, especially the Therizinosauria, which is not merely similar to Segnosaurus. Also, the paper does not rule out the possibility that it belongs to another large and medium-sized Theropoda.


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