鲟形鱼类是一类脊椎骨尚未完全骨化、鳞片极度退化的原始辐鳍鱼类。本文重新系统描述了该类别中时代最古老的中华原始软骨硬鳞鱼(Eochondrosteus sinensis Lu,Li et Yang, 2005),补充并修订了其古生物学特征。该鱼类具有扇形的下鳃盖骨、多块条形鳃条骨、较大的喉板骨、具齿的上、下颌,且全身仅在尾鳍上叶具有鳞片等特征,可以区别于鲟形鱼类其他属种。初步的支序系统发育分析表明,Eochondrosteus可能是鲟形鱼类中最原始的类群,与所有其他鲟形鱼类的祖先类群构成一个姐妹群;同时其具有一些古鳕类才普遍拥有的特征,如相对较大的喉板骨和眶下骨等,有可能是原始辐鳍鱼类向鲟形鱼类进化过程中的过渡类型。这一鲟形鱼类化石产于甘肃省肃北县马鬃山镇西北约50 km的方山口组深灰色粉砂质页岩中。根据野外实地调查和岩石地层学、生物地层学对比,该鱼类的时代有可能是早三叠世,而非命名时认为的晚二叠世,但仍是迄今已发现的时代最古老之鲟形鱼类。

发现于内蒙古鄂托克旗召稍早白垩世罗汉洞组的一件不完整翼龙类下颌标本,以下颌愈合部长且平直、齿骨侧嵴发育、近圆形齿窝沿侧嵴之上的齿骨侧面上半部分自前向后呈直线排列、齿窝直径(2~2.5 mm)前后变化较小、相邻齿窝的间距约为齿窝直径的一半、下颌牙齿密度为3枚/cm等特征,可归入梳颌翼龙科(Ctenochasmatidae),且代表一新属种——郝氏鄂托克翼龙Otogopterus haoae gen.et sp.nov.。该化石是继鄂托克旗新召准噶尔翼龙科的平颌鄂尔多斯翼龙Ordosipterus planignathus之后在内蒙古鄂尔多斯地区发现的第2件确切翼龙类材料,丰富了这一地区早白垩世脊椎动物群的组成。该翼龙也是继甘肃庆阳环河翼龙Huanhepterus quingyangensis之后在鄂尔多斯盆地发现的第2种梳颌翼龙科化石,进一步扩大了鄂尔多斯盆地梳颌翼龙科的地理分布范围,同时表明鄂尔多斯盆地是继辽宁西部之后梳颌翼龙科在中国的又一重要分布区。

中国西北和东北地区发育中生代河湖相沉积的陆相盆地,其中赋存丰富的脊椎动物化石群,包括天山北部准噶尔盆地的乌尔禾翼龙动物群、天山南部吐哈盆地的哈密翼龙动物群和辽西热河生物群富含翼龙化石。乌尔禾和哈密翼龙动物群都发现于下白垩统吐谷鲁群中,两者的繁盛时间大致相当,这两个动物群的翼龙个体数量巨大,但是物种多样性很低。乌尔禾翼龙动物群的化石多保存在半深湖环境沉积的细砂岩和粉砂岩中,化石保存较为完整,主要为正常死亡;哈密翼龙动物群的化石富集保存在滨浅湖环境事件沉积的风暴岩中,大都经过了大型风暴的短距离搬运和快速埋藏,骨架分散,但几乎所有单个骨骼完整。东北地区的热河生物群翼龙种类众多,共生包括鱼类、两栖类、恐龙等其他爬行类、鸟类和哺乳类等脊椎动物,生物多样性极为丰富,大多保存在半深湖-深湖环境形成的页岩中,骨架多为完整保存,是火山爆发事件导致其集群死亡,并被火山灰快速埋藏,与新疆的动物群面貌明显不同。根据天山南北的翼龙动物群初步对比,乌尔禾翼龙动物群的主要优势类群准噶尔翼龙类,在天山北部的准噶尔盆地及相邻的蒙古西部地区都有分布,与天山南部的哈密翼龙动物群中已知唯一翼龙类群哈密翼龙完全不同,两者亲缘关系很远。因此认为在中生代,天山的隆升就已经达到了一定的高度,并对翼龙的南北迁徙交流形成了有效的地理阻隔。依据中国东北和西北地区早白垩世翼龙动物群对比,认为辽西及相邻周边地区由于华北克拉通破坏,导致大量火山活动,造成了生态环境的多样性和生物种类的快速更替,从而形成了热河生物群独有的极高的生物多样性,而缺少火山活动、环境相对单一的西北陆相盆地,虽然翼龙类具有数以千万计的庞大居群,但是物种多样性很低。华北克拉通破坏导致的辽西地区频繁而强烈的火山活动,是形成中国西北和东北早白垩世生物多样性差异的重要原因。

本文记述了新近发现的保存较好、具甲胄确切证据的奥陶纪鱼形动物化石。该化石采自新疆塔里木盆地巴楚县一间房地区依朗里克塔格山上奥陶统恰尔巴克组滨-浅海紫红色砂屑灰岩中。对所发现的鱼形动物新属新种——优雅郝氏鱼(Haoina elegantia gen.et sp.nov.)进行了生物学系统描述。郝氏鱼是我国奥陶纪已知保存较完整的古脊椎动物化石,是新科——郝氏鱼科(Haoinaspididae fam.nov.)的科型属。并依据其独特的生物学特征建立新目——郝氏鱼目(Haoinaspidiformes ord.nov.),置于无颌超纲甲胄鱼纲之下。依据牙形石化石带的时代分布,恰尔巴克组属于晚奥陶世早期,即桑比期。新发现的鱼形动物化石包括一个较完整的背侧甲片,化石表面覆盖具有特征纹饰的外骨骼甲胄,大致可分为四种不同的类型;松果区位于头甲中前部;有宽大而深陷的背侧位眶凹,位于松果体稍前的两侧,瘤突组成的嵴在凹壁呈同心圆排列,眶凹呈喇叭状开口。感觉沟系统发育,具眶上感觉沟、主侧线感觉沟和嵴间感觉沟,显示出真皮及皮下组织的管孔系统结构。根据与其他地区鱼形动物的对比和生物特征,建立了具有古特提斯特色的新的鱼形动物古地理分区——奥陶纪郝氏鱼类-巴楚鱼类古脊椎动物生物地理区系。这一化石是我国乃至亚洲目前已知发现最早具外骨骼确凿证据的鱼形动物。

Well known for its abundant and extraordinary soft-tissue fossils, the Chengjiang fauna has witnessed the main phase of the Cambrian explosion and the first great congress of the ancestors of nearly all major phyla of animals on Earth. The large-scale survey and exploration of the fauna by Chinese paleontologists, partly in collaboration with international scientists, over the past 30 years can be broadly divided into three stages. In the first decade since 1984 (1984-1994), a large number of invertebrates, including basal animals and the protostomes of the early animal tree were discovered, but the subkingdom Deuterostomia was completely unknown. Then in the second decade (1995-2005), the great discoveries of various deuterostomes led to the construction of the basic framework of the Deuterostomia and then to the formation of the tripartite phylogenetic trees of early animals (TPTEA, including basal animals, protostomes and deuterostomes), for the first time. In the third decade (after 2005), the academic community began to think about the internal relationships between the formation of TPTEA and the multi-episode Cambrian explosion, leading to the new hypothesis of the three-episode Cambrian explosion. The Chengjiang fauna is important for deciphering the fauna structure, paleoecological environment, and so on. However, its core academic values mainly rest on two aspects. Firstly, The Chengjiang fauna, as the main phase witness of the Cambrian explosion, has created a nearly complete phylogenetic framework of the TPTEA on Earth for the first time. The three-phase radiation hypothesis reveals the essential connotation of the Cambrian explosion: a step-wise divergent evolution of animals, from basal to highly advanced groups, lasting about 40 million years. In the first phase, it gave birth to a bulk of basal animals (including some now extinct “animal” groups) in the latest Ediacaran, probably including some pioneer protostomes. The second phase took place in the first epoch of the Cambrian period (Terreneuvian), giving rise to the main invertebrate protostomes with a persistent prosperity of basal animals. The third phase proceeded in Cambrian Epoch 2 (represented by the Chengjiang fauna), which not only maintained the prosperity of basal animals and protostomes, but also, more importantly, gave birth to all the main phyla of the subkingdom Deuterostomia. Thus, the rudimental framework of the whole TPTEA has been shaped, with the termination of the major innovation events of the Cambrian explosion. Here, we discussed the evolutionary properties of Ediacaran biota, small shelly fossils and the Chengjiang fauna in the Cambrian explosion with emphasis on the biological properties of several important animal groups. The order Myllokunmingiida is the only known oldest vertebrate, while Yunnanozoon and Haikouella are neither vertebrates nor stem-group chordates but a special group of basal deuterostomes; Cheungkongella is a credible ancestor of the urochordate and it supports the classical hypothesis on the origin of the urochordates; and the gill slits were first invented in the members of the phylum Vetulicolia to provide key information on the origin of the deuterostomes. The second core value of the Chengjiang fauna is of profound humanistic and philosophical significance: the discoveries of the ‘first gill openings’, ‘first brain’, ‘first vertebrae’ and ‘first heart’ provide the pivotal evidence for solving the unsolved mystery of the origin of the main basic human organs as described in Darwin’s “The Descent of Man”. In addition, the morphological and anatomical information of the Chengjiang fauna can provide important clues for a better understanding of most components of Ediacaran and Cambrian metazoans.