The Cambrian Burgess Shale-type (BST) fossil lagerst？tten have a global distribution from Laurasia to Gondwana. Exceptionally well-preserved soft-bodied fossils from these lagerst？tten document unique information for elucidating the origin and early evolution of metazoans during the ‘‘Cambrian explosion’’. Over the past three decades, several famous BST fossil lagerst？tten have been uncovered from the Cambrian of South China, and attracted worldwide attention and public interests. In recent years, a research groupheaded by Prof. ZHU Maoyan from Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences have unremittingly discovered exciting fossils in the Cambrian strata in southeastern Yunnan. Recently, Dr. ZHAO Fangchen and his colleagues from the research group report a new Chengjiang-type fossil assemblage from the lower part of the Hongjingshao Formation at Xiazhuang village of Chenggong, Kunming, Yunnan. The fossil assemblage, named as Xiazhuang fossil assemblage, yields abundant soft-bodied fossils except for common trilobites, including arthropods, brachiopods, priapulids, lobopods and some problematic taxa, with arthropods being the most dominant group. Preservation and composition of the fossil assemblage are very similar to the typical Chengjiang biota, which is preserved in the middle Yu’anshan Formation in the large area of eastern Yunnan. The associated trilobites demonstrate that the soft-bodied fossil assemblage belongs to the late Qiongzhusian in age (Stage 3, Cambrian), suggesting that the Hongjingshao Formation is probably a diachronous lithostratigraphic unit ranging from the upper Qiongzhusian to the lower Canglangpuan stages in eastern Yunnan. The fossil assemblage from the Xiazhuang area fills up the missing link between the typical older Chengjiang biota and the younger Malong and Guanshan biotas, making eastern Yunnan a unique area in the world to reveal the early evolutionary history of animals and palaeocommunity dynamics during the ‘‘Cambrian explosion’’. This research was supported by Chinese Academy of Sciences, National Basic Research Program of China and the National Natural Science Foundation of China. Related information of this paper: ZENG Han, ZHAO Fangchen*, YIN Zongjun, LI Guoxiang, ZHU Maoyan. 2014. A Chengjiang-type fossil assemblage from the Hongjingshao Formation (Cambrian Stage 3) at Chenggong, Kunming, Yunnan. Chinese Science Bulletin, DOI:10.1007/s11434-014-0419-y.
The trilobites from the lower Hongjingshao Formation, indicate that the new soft-bodied fossil assemblage belongs to the late Qiongzhusian age.
Representative soft-bodied fossils from Hongjingshao Formation at Xiazhuang, Chenggong area
The Australian Lower Cretaceous Koonwarra fossil bed (ca. 118 Ma) has yielded abundant plants, vertebrates and invertebrate fossils, including insects, spiders and branchiopods. The flea, Tarwinia, is one of the most arresting fossils among them. In 1970, two different fleas, Tarwinia (about 7 mm long) and Niwratia, were reported by an Australian paleontologist Riek in Nature. Niwratia is small, and it was thought to be closely related to modern fleas; whereas the holotype of Tarwinia preserved sufficient morphological details and probably some ancestral features, making it a hotspot for scientists’ attention. Tarwinia has been well known for the sole definitive Mesozoic flea fossil before diverse transitional fleas reported in Nature from the Middle Jurassic Daohugou biota (ca. 165 Ma) and the Early Cretaceous Jehol biota (ca. 125 Ma) of northeastern China by Prof. HUANG Diying from Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Science in 2012. However, the systematic position of Tarwinia is controversial: paleontologists generally agree that Tarwinia presents a member of Siphonaptera, while neontologists do not agree. The reason accounting for this situation is probably the inaccurate description of Tarwinia. For instance, siphonate mouthparts are well developed in extant fleas, while the structure is not found in Tarwinia. In Evolution of Insect by Grimaldi and Engel (2005), it was pointed out that Tarwinia does not possess siphonate mouthparts. In 2012, Huang et al. indicated that as seen from the figures in that book the piercing and sucking mouthparts are probably present in Tarwinia. The discovery of the diverse giant fleas from the Mesozoic of China also support that Tarwinia belongs to Siphonaptera. In 2013, Tarwinia was elevated to a new family status by Huang and his colleagues. In November of 2013, HUANG Diying visited the Victoria Museum in Melbourne, Australia and restudied the holotype of Tarwinia. He confirmed for the first time that the other flea genus Niwratia is in fact a libellulid larva of Odonata and has no affinity with fleas. The description of Tarwinia is inaccurate, so Tarwinia was restudied by Huang and the result was recently published online in Cretaceous Research. New examinations confirm that Tarwinia has siphonate mouthparts, and special sensilla-bearing pygidium is present near the apex of its abdomen. Some authors thought that Tarwinia is a relatively derived Mesozoic flea as supported by its laterally compressed body, while it is due to the misunderstanding of the preservation. Huang argues that Tarwinia has affinity with the giant fleas from the Middle Jurassic and Early Cretaceous of China, and they differ in the morphology of the ctenidia on tibiae. Like other Mesozoic fleas, Tarwinia only has ctenidia on tibiae, but ctenidia are very long and comb-like, and located at the apical and outer edges. In the head, thorax, or abdomen of extant fleas, different ctenidia are developed, making the fleas from being removed from their hosts. The ctenidia are only present on tibiae, and their different morphology likely suggests different adaption to hosts. It is possible that Tarwinia and other Mesozoic fleas were derived from the same ancestor. Before the Middle Jurassic, a time when Pangaea was not completely broken up, the flea ancestor has had likely immigrated to every continent with their hosts. With the break up of Pangaea and the Early Cretaceous Australia was distinctly separated from other continents, the ecological isolation made early vertebrates evolve separated, making their parasites have the morphological adaption accordingly and evolve to specialized species. The possibility that the comb-like ctenidia was associated with feathers cannot be ruled out, as a number of diverse early birds or feathered dinosaurs have been discovered, and bird feathers were also found in Tarwinia-bearing strata. This research was supported by the National Basic Research Program of China, Outstanding Youth Foundation of Jiangsu Province, and the National Natural Science Foundation of China. Related information of the paper: Huang, Diying (2014): Tarwinia australis (Siphonaptera: Tarwiniidae) from the Lower Cretaceous Koonwarra fossil bed: Morphological revision and analysis of its evolutionary relationship. Cretaceous Research, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2014.03.018
Tarwinia australis from Lower Cretaceous Koonwarra fossil bed of Australia, the enlarged pictures indicate the ctenidia on fore tibia.
Oxyporinae is one of the most peculiar and distinguishable groups of the megadiverse family Staphylinidae, and it includes only one extant genus Oxyporus and nearly 100 extant species widely distributed in the Northern Hemisphere. Members of Oxyporus exhibit an obligate association with mature Agaricales (gilled), Boletales (bolete) and Polyporales (polypore) mushrooms, and both larvae and adults feed on the spore-producing layer of the mushrooms. Mesozoic record of Oxyporinae is very limited, with only one Oxyporus species described from the Yixian Formation at Beipiao, Liaoning Province. Recently, a PhD student Mr. CAI Chenyang and Prof. HUANG Diying from Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences reported two distinctly different oxyporine rove beetles (Fig. 1) from the Yixian Formation (ca. 125 Ma) at Liutiaogou, Ningcheng County, Inner Mongolia and Huangbanjigou, Beipiao, Liaoning Province China. Based on detailed morphological study, including the application of SEM, remarkable differences are found between the extinct and extant oxyporines, and two new genera and species, Protoxyporus grandis and Cretoxyporus extraneus, were established. Protoxyporus differs from extant Oxyporus in retaining several plesiomorphic features: relatively narrowly separated mesocoxae, less developed metaventral anterior process, and long infraorbital ridges. Cretoxyporus is morphologically very similar to Oxyporus, but retains distinct elongate infraorbital ridges. Extant oxyporines are fed on some derived fungi (Fig. 2), and fungi were already differentiated and diverse in the Cretaceous; it is possible that the new oxyporines were lived on early mushrooms. It also suggests that the early oxyporines were more diverse and their evolutionary history more complicated than previously documented. This research was supported by the National Basic Research Program of China, Outstanding Youth Foundation of Jiangsu Province, and the National Natural Science Foundation of China. Related information of the paper: Chenyang Cai, Diying Huang (2014) Diverse oxyporine rove beetles from the Early Cretaceous of China (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae). Systematic Entomology, DOI: 10.1111/syen.12069.
Fig. 1. Cretaceous oxyporine rove beetles (upper) and the abdominal intersegmental “brick-wall” pattern (lower)
Fig. 2. Representatives of modern oxyporine rove beetles
Plant cytoplasm fossil is a rarely touched topic in palaeontology although there are increasing reports on it in other countries. After careful studying, plant cytoplasm that formerly was thought impossible to preserve has now turned out to a possibility in palaeontology. Although there have been some reports of plant cytoplasm fossils in China, chloroplast, which is the largest organelle in plant cells, has been missing in Asia hitherto. After years of intensive cooperative investigation with colleagues from other universities, Professor WANG Xin from Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences and his team reported the ultrastructures of chloroplasts in a Nelumbo leaf recovered from the Eocene of Changchang Basin, Hainan Island, China. Similar reports have been made in America and Europe before, but in Asia this report is the first one. Previous research has indicated that various parts of fossil Nelumbo have been preserved autochthonously in the Changchang Basin of Hainan. To deepen the understanding of the fossil plant, the research team integrated the expertise of its members, sampled from a fossil Nelumbo leaf, performed light microscopic, scanning and transmission electron microscopic observations. After overcoming various difficulties, they confirmed the existence of starch grains and grana with stacked thylakoid membranes, which are characteristic of chloroplasts, in the fossil plant tissues. The paper is published online recently in Plant Systematics and Evolution. Related information: Wang X, Liu W, Du K, He X, Jin J: Ultrastructure of chloroplasts in fossil Nelumbo from the Eocene of Hainan Island, South China. Plant Systematics and Evolution 2014. DOI: 10.1007/s00606-014-1056-2
Staphylinidae (or rove beetles), belonging to Coleoptera of Insecta, is one the largest families of animals on the planet. With more than 58,000 described species, the family includes 1 extinct and 32 extant subfamilies. Olisthaerinae is one of the smallest subfamilies of rove beetles, containing only 2 modern and one fossil species. Jurassic rove beetles were mainly reported from the Upper Jurassic of Karatau, Kazakhstan, while very few were known from China. Recently, a PhD student Mr. CAI Chenyang, Prof. HUANG Diying from Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences together with Dr. Robert Beattie from Australia, reported two new olisthaerine rove beetles from the Middle Jurassic at Daohuhou Village, Ningcheng County, Inner Mongolia and the Upper Jurassic Talbragar fish beds in New South Wales, Australia. Compared with one species of the sole extant olisthaerine genus Olisthaerus, the fossil olisthaerine from Daohugou (Protolisthaerus jurassicus Cai et al., 2014) displays a remarkably similar appearance to the Recent species O. substriatus Paykull (Fig. 2), and they can be only distinguished from each other by very slight differences. Recent Olisthaerus speceis have very peculiar life-style; they live beneath the bark of coniferous trees. The remarkable morphological similarities between them probably suggest that Protolisthaerus jurassicus had the same subcortical lifestyle as its modern counterparts. The presence of abudant fossil conifers from Daohugou, such as Pityocladus and Yanliaoa, supports this hypothesis. The continuous presence of coniferous trees and the specific subcortical lifestyle are probably responsible for the long time morphological stasis in Olisthaerinae. In addition, the Recent olisthaerines are distributed in the northern temperate zone, including northern and central Europe, Asian Russia, Mongolia, and North America, while the discovery of an olisthaerine beetle from Australia greatly extends the geographical distribution of the small family (Fig. 2). Olisthaerinae was much more widespread and diverse in the Jurassic than previously assumed. This research was supported by the National Basic Research Program of China, Outstanding Youth Foundation of Jiangsu Province, and the National Natural Science Foundation of China. Related information of the paper: Chenyang Cai, Robert Beattie, Diying Huang (2014) Jurassic olisthaerine rove beetles (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae): 165 million years of morphological and probably behavioral stasis. Gondwana Research, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gr.2014.03.007
Fig. 1. Detailed comparison between the Middle Jurassic and Recent olisthaerines.
Fig. 2. Global palaeogeographic reconstruction of the Late Jurassic, showing three Olisthaerinae-yielding localities.
Abundant, well-preserved Mid Devonian plants were reported from the Hujiersite Formation, West Junggar, Xinjiang, northwest China. However, on account of active tectonic in the Devonian West Junggar, most Devonian sections are not continuous. In the resent study by Professor XU Honghe from Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences and his colleagues, Devonian spores were systematically studied from four sections (251 Hill, G217 Highway, Hujiersite and Gannaren) in West Junggar, North Xinjiang, China. All four sections belong to, or are equivalent to, the Upper Member of the Hujiersite Formation, from which abundant plant macrofossils have also been reported. These spores enable us, for the first time, to date these fossil plant beds as from late Emsian to Frasnian in age. The plant localities are all from a Devonian volcanic terrain and have a lycopsid-dominant flora. These lycopsid plants have near global Devonian distributions and are hence the most mobile elements among the contemporary floras. The West Junggar shows a different palynological assemblage from that of the East Junggar and is palaeogeographically significant. The paper was published in Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology (Xu, H.-H., Marshall, J.E.A., Wang, Y., Zhu, H.-C., Berry, C.M., Wellman, C.H. 2014. Devonian spores from an intra-oceanic volcanic arc, West Junggar (Xinjiang, China) and the palaeogeographical significance of the associated fossil plant beds. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology. 206: 10-22).
In the Jiuquan Basin, Gansu Province, northwestern China, the Lower Cretaceous Xinminpu (Xinminbao) Group consists of the Chijinpu (Chijinbao), the Xiagou and the Zhonggou formations in ascending order. Abundant insect fossils have been discovered in these strata since 1947 when the giant mayfly Ephemeropsis trisetalis Eichwald was discovered in the Jiuquan Basin. Typical components of the Jehol Biota have been reported from this basin, including Coptoclava longipoda, E. trisetalis and Lycoptera. Although these strata have been studied for a long time, their age is still in dispute. During the past ten years, Professor ZHANG Haichun and his research group from Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences have investigated these strata in Jiuquan and collected abundant insect fossils from the Xiagou and Zhonggou formations. Recently, under the guidance of Professor ZHANG Haichun, Mr. ZHENG Daran firstly reported several caddisfly cases and abundant adults of the dragonfly Hemeroscopus baissicus Pritykina in the Zhonggou Formation. Wings of dragonfly H. baissicus are different from those from other localities in two aspects: the oblique crossvein ‘O’ is 3 or 4 cells distal of the subnodus; the wing size is much smaller (30–42 mm in length for forewings). These differences are considered to be intraspecific variations, based on which diagnoses of the genus Hemeroscopus and the family Hemeroscopidae are revised. The dragonfly H. baissicus was widely distributed in the Lower Cretaceous of eastern Asia, and has been recovered from the Zaza Formation of Baissa in Transbaikalia, Russia, the Dzun-Bain Formation of Bon-Tsagaan in western Mongolia, the Lushangfen Formation of western Beijing and the Zhonggou Formation of Jiuquan in China, and the Dongmyeong Formation of Banryong-ri in southern Korea. Based on the existing records of H. baissicus, a possible migration path of the dragonfly is indicated that it initially appeared in Transbaikalia in the Aptian, migrated southwestwards to Mongolia in the Aptian or early Albian, and then southwestwards to northwest China, southeastwards to northeast China, and southern Korea in the early Albian. This research was supported by Chinese Academy of Sciences, National Basic Research Program and the National Natural Science Foundation of China. The paper was published in Cretaceous Research (Zheng Daran, Zhang Haichun, Zhang Qi, Li Sha, Wang He, Fang Yan, Liu Qing, Jarzembowski E.A., Wang Bo, 2014. The discovery of an Early Cretaceous dragonfly Hemeroscopus baissicus Pritykina, 1977 (Hemeroscopidae) in Jiuquan, Northwest China, and its stratigraphic implications. Cretaceous Research. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2014.02.020).
Outcrop and insect fossils from the Jiuquan Basin.
Distribution and suggested spread of Hemeroscopus baissicus Pritykina in the Early Cretaceous.
The Helmetiids is a group of weakly sclerotized Cambrian arthropods that have aroused interest on account of their trilobite affinities. Because of edge-to-edge tergite articulations and the supposed shared derived character of dorsoventral mismatch, they are considered closely related with trilobites as their possible sister taxon. The first species to be described was Helmetia expansa Walcott, 1918 from the middle Cambrian Burgess Shale Biota, but details of the ventral morphology of this species are still poorly known. Among exceptionally well-preserved arthropods from the Chengjiang Biota, Helmetiids are represented with five species: Kuamaia lata Hou, 1987; Kuamaia muricata Hou and Bergstr？m, 1997; Rhombicalvaria acanthi Hou, 1987; Saperion glumaceum Hou, Ramsk？ld and Bergstr？m, 1991, and Skioldia aldna Hou and Bergstr？m, 1997. Together these six species comprise a substantial proportion of the taxon Helmetiida. Recently, Dr. ZHAO Fangchen from Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences and his colleagues described a new helmetiid arthropod, Haifengella corona n. gen. n. sp., from the Chengjiang Lagerst？tte in Journal of Paleontology. The discovery provides new materials for the evolution and species diversity of helmetiids. This research was supported by Chinese Academy of Sciences, National Basic Research Program of China and the National Natural Science Foundation of China. Related information of this paper: Zhao Fangchen, Hu Shixue, Zeng Han, Zhu Maoyan. 2014. A new helmetiid arthropod from the early Cambrian Chengjiang Lagerst？tte, Southwest China. Journal of Paleontology, 88(2): 367-370.
Haifengella corona
Haifengella corona and the other five species of Helmetiids
Microbialites and microbial carbonates, formed during growth of microbes by their calcification and binding of detrital sediment, have become one of the most popular geological topics recently. They occur throughout the entire geological history, and especially flourished during the Meso- to Neoproterozoic, Cambrian–Ordovician, Late Devonian–Early Carboniferous, and Early Triassic. Flourish and decline of microbialites and microbial carbonates are closely related to major geological events, paleoclimate, and paleoceanography. Therefore, studies on these microbial-induced sediments are important with respect to revealing paleoceanographic, paleoclimatic, and paleoecological conditions. They also bear important economic significances due to their complex structures and biogenic origins. Recently, Dr. CHEN Jitao from Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences and his colleague provide review and present new views on current progress and problems in the study of microbialites and microbial carbonates, based on literature investigations and their recent researches. The proposed that microbial carbonates can be classified into two categories: stabilized microbial carbonates (i.e., carbonate microbialites, such as stromatolites and thrombolites) and mobilized microbial carbonates (i.e., microbial carbonate grains, such as oncoids and microbial lumps). Various texture, structures, and morphologies of microbialites and microbial carbonates hamper the systematic description and classification. They also provide a practical classification on various structures of microbialites. Moreover, complex calcification pathways (mostly extracellular) and diagenetic modifications further obscure the origin of some microbialites and microbial carbonates. Recent findings of abundant sponge spicules in previously identified “microbialites” challenge the traditional views about the origins of these “microbialites” and their implications to reef evolution. On the other hand, microbialites and microbial carbonates are not always flourished in the aftermath of extinction events, which, together with other evidences, suggests that they are affected not only by metazoans but also by other geological factors. Their growth, development, and demise are also closely related to sea-level changes, due to their dependence on water depth, clarity, nutrient, and sunlight. Detailed studies on microbialites and microbial carbonates throughout geological history would certainly help understand causes and effects of major geological events as well as the co-evolution of life and environment. Related information of this paper: Chen Jitao, Lee Jeong-Hyun, 2014. Current progress on the geological record of microbialites and microbial carbonates. Acta Geologica Sinica (English Edition), 88 (1), 260–275.
Representative photographs of various microbialites and microbial carbonates. (a) Irregular to domal stromatolite, Cambrian Series 2, Laiwu region, Shandong, China. (b) Thrombolite with irregular, dark-gray microbial clots, Cambrian Series 3, Jinan region, Shandong, China. (c) Dendrolite with bush-like structures, Cambrian Series 3, Jining region, Shandong, China. (d) Leiolite with aphanitic texure, Cambrian Series 3, Laiwu region, Shandong, China, which was firstly recognized by Woo (2009). (e) Microbial laminites with desiccation crack, Cambrian Series 3, Linyi region, Shandong, China. (f) Oncoid with spheroidal shapes and crudely-laminated cortex, Cambrian Series 3, Jinan region, Shandong, China.
Different scales of microbialite structures and morphology. (a) The four investigation scales of microbialites (modified after Shapiro, 2000). (b) Amended investigation scales of microbial structures and morpholog
The Progymnospermopsida, being characterized by pteridophytic free-sporing reproduction but gymnospermous secondary vascular tissues, is subdivided into three orders: Aneurophytales, Archaeopteridales and Protopityales. Among them Aneurophytales is thought to be the most primitive. Genera in Aneurophytales established based on both morphological and anatomical characters include Tetraxylopteris Beck 1957, Rellimia (Dawson) Leclercqet Bonamo 1973, and Aneurophyton Kr？usel et Weyland 1923. The diagnostic characters of Aneurophyton come mainly from the type species, A. germanicum Kr？uselet Weyland 1923, widely reported from the Middle Devonian of Euramerica (e.g. Serlin and Banks 1978; Schweitzer and Matten 1982). Recently, Dr. JIANG Qing and her colleagues from Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences described a new species Aneurophytondouisp. nov. (Aneurophytales, Progymnospermopsida) from the late Middle Devonian Hujiersite Formation of Hoxtolgay, Xinjiang, northwest China, as a plant with at least four orders of axes and ultimate units (vegetative appendages/fertile organs). Spines cover the surface of all orders of axesand ultimate units. The second-order axes and the vegetative appendages are closely inserted in pairs and helically arranged. From the second order, axes of subsequent orders are produced by bifurcation. The vegetative appendages are unwebbed and up to three times dichotomous. The fertile organ is pinnate, and thefertile organ axes are opposite or subopposite with adaxial, elliptical sporangia. This is the first formal report of Aneurophyton beyond the coasts of the Rheic Ocean. West Junggar, the locality of present species of Aneurophyton, played a key role in the dispersal of Aneurophytales in the Middle Devonian. The paper was published in International Journal of Plant Sciences. Related information of this paper: Jiang Q, Wang Y, Xu H-H*, Feng J. 2013.A new species of Aneurophyton(Progymnospermopsida) from the Middle Devonian of West Junggar, Xinjiang, China, and its paleophytogeographical significance.International Journal of Plant Sciences. 174: 1182-1200)
