分类： 地球科学 >> 地质学 提交时间： 2018-04-04 合作期刊: 《古脊椎动物学报》
摘要： Tooth reduction and loss was an important evolutionary process in Mesozoic birds. Analysis of evolutionary trends in the total mass of the dentition, a function of tooth size and tooth number, has the potential to shed light on the evolutionary pattern of tooth reduction and loss, and on the causes of this pattern. Because modern birds lack teeth, however, they cannot provide the basis for a model that would allow estimation of tooth masses in their Mesozoic counterparts. We selected the teeth of crocodilians as analogues of those in Mesozoic birds because the former are the closest living relatives of the latter, and the two groups are similar in tooth morphology, tooth implantation, and tooth replacement pattern. To estimate tooth masses in Mesozoic birds, we formulated four regression equations relating tooth mass to various linear dimensions, which were measured in 31 intact isolated teeth from eight individual crocodiles (Crocodylus siamensis). The results for Mesozoic birds show that dental mass as a proportion of body mass was negligible, at least from the perspective of flight performance, suggesting that selection pressure favoring body mass reduction was probably not the primary driver of tooth reduction or loss. Variations in dental mass among Mesozoic birds may reflect the different foods they ate, and the different types of feeding behavior they displayed.
分类： 地球科学 >> 地质学 提交时间： 2018-04-04 合作期刊: 《古脊椎动物学报》
摘要： A new specimen of kubanochoeres has been discovered from the Maida locality, Linxia Basin, Gansu Province, China, and a new species, Kubanochoerus parvus sp. nov., has been created based on the unique partially broken cranium. The new species has a relatively small body size similar to K. massai and K. minheensis. The new species, which possesses relatively wide cheek teeth that resemble those of K. massai and many derived characters that are similar to K. gigas, may represent a separate lineage of the Eurasian kubanochoeres. The horizon of the Maida locality is speculated to be the upper Hujialiang Formation or lower Liushu Formation, and the new species is possibly the youngest known kubanochoere. Based on the comparison of the known kubanochoere, Libycochoerus is suggested to be a synonym of Kubanochoerus, while K. robustus and K. lantienensis are synonyms of K. gigas. There is not sufficient evidence to support the subdivision of K. gigas at the subspecies level. Kubanochoerus gigas is speculated to have derived from more primitive forms that existed earlier than K. massai, and the new species may be derived from K. massai or other earlier forms. Kubanochoerus minheensis, which bears a relatively small body size and rudimentary sub-lophodont dentition, is suggested to be another separate lineage of the Eurasian kubanochoeres.
分类： 地球科学 >> 地质学 提交时间： 2018-04-04 合作期刊: 《古脊椎动物学报》
摘要： Recent fieldwork at Pleistocene cave sites in the Chongzuo area in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region has yielded 33 isolated teeth of fossil hylobatids. Comparisons indicate that the teeth can all be referred to a single species of Nomascus, but the material is insufficient to assign it to a particular species. The molars are slightly larger on average than those of extant species of Nomascus, but unlike contemporary great apes from the Pleistocene of southern China, the hylobatids do not seem to have undergone a change in dental size through time. Nomascus is not present in the Chongzuo area today, but historical records indicate that the genus may have been widely distributed across southern China in the recent past.
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