Found in Xinjiang Province saved three dimensional pterosaur egg and a large pterosaur fossils (photo) | | | pterosaurs Dragon eggs in Xinjiang _ news

CNS, Beijing, June 6 (reporter Sun Zifa)-Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of vertebrate paleontology and paleoanthropology (Institute of spine) Wang Xiaolin researcher led the expedition, Hami, Xinjiang, through nearly 10 years of field study, found a new Cretaceous pterosaur fauna in Hami area. This pterosaur fossil range is not only the world's richest and largest known pterosaur fossil origin, is currently the world's only pterosaur egg and three-dimensional save individual female and male pterosaur fossil site of symbiosis.

Wang Xiaolin and Brazil National Museum yalishanda·kaierna (AlexanderKellner) and other paleontologists international collaborative research teams on this results in a significant discovery, 6th Beijing time by the internationally renowned journal current biology published online and printed a cover story to be reported on. International paleontological researches on highly of this discovery and research. Two of thesis evaluation experts agreed that "this is pteranodon studying 200 years one of the most exciting discoveries", it has great scientific value.

This new-found pterosaur is named "Hami tianshan mountains pterosaurs", in honor of the fossil finds and tianshan 2013 wins the world cultural heritage list. At present, Wang Xiaolin team through detailed study of Hami found that about 40 per cent of male and female of the same species individuals and their 5-egg fossil pterosaurs, pterodactyl bi-model, ontogeny, pterosaur egg and eggshell microstructure, reproductive and ecological habits have made significant progress.

Wang Xiaolin introduced said, Hami wing Dragon fossil buried in early chalk CB of Lake storm deposition in the, while currently also no found full of fossil skeleton, but found large full of skull and mandibular, and each a dispersed save of head Hou bones are save full, no was handling damage of traces, representative has from this more than 100 million years Qian Lake in the of burst sexual large storm led to life in Lake side and soar Yu sky in the of wing Dragon was destruction disaster event and clusters death, And they produced at the Lakeshore in the wet sand mud quickly buried the eggs together. Vast amounts of Hami pterodactyl fossils, but a single, diversity is very low, is currently in the pterosaur populations of the same genus and species found only in a number of different developmental stages of adult and juvenile male and female individuals along with their eggs.

Hami, characteristic of the largest pterosaurs is their development was on the skull headgear-formerly the jaw Ridge. Hami wing bone development in faucet of different size, shape and thickness of hair is the sign of the discriminant of male and female individuals. Hami, found dozens of representatives of the different developmental stages of pterosaur skulls, without exception, are developmental headdress. These headdress from scratch bone of Qian Department began backward extends formed a skull Ridge, has two class obviously of form features: category skull Ridge larger, appeared of location relative by Qian, began Yu 5th or 6th gold teeth Department and has been extends to skull Hou Department, ridge of leading-edge strongly forward up bent; another category skull Ridge smaller, appeared of location also relative by Hou, began Yu 6th or 7th gold teeth and has been backward extends, ridge of leading-edge Hou pour and no obviously of forward bent phenomenon. Both comb-shape represents the double of pterosaurs, large ridges of the male, and smaller for females, a sexual display function.

Hami are large pterosaur pterosaurs class adults wingspan can be up to 3.5 meters. A large number of different developmental stages of childhood and adult male and female individuals found that the particularly well preserved skull and lower jaws, enables scientists to ontogenetic features pterosaurs had a whole new appreciation and understanding. Wang Xiaolin, Hami, ontogenesis of the pterodactyl the most obvious difference is manifested in the front of the upper and lower jaws, as development from childhood to adulthood, and upper and lower jaw gradually emerging on the front significant lateral expansion. Smaller juvenile individuals almost see this phenomenon, this expanding phenomenon in the larger adults is more obvious, and as age increases the expansion of the individual more and more obvious, "the ontogenetic features is the first known pterosaur taxa found, probably due to the predatory ability of adult individuals."

Wang Xiaolin team through the discovery of stereoscopic save 5 macroscopic morphology, pterodactyl egg eggshell microstructure and elemental composition research and comparisons with eggs of reptiles, macroscopic morphology of Hami found pterosaur egg and eggshell structure, are reptiles like snakes, certain "soft shell eggs" are very similar. So far apart from the discovery of 5 saved three dimensional Hami pterodactyl egg, but only 4 known pterosaur fossil eggs of the flattened two-dimensional story, 3 of which were from China's Liaoning province, 1 from Argentina.

Pterodactyl eggs as this study near the ends of long, symmetrical oval, approximately 6-6.5 cm, and reptiles and birds ' eggs, an egg has a double-layer structure, the outer layer is a thin calcareous shell, the inner layer of thick leathery soft shell membrane, shell thickness of calcareous shell thickness of 3 times. Due to reasons of soft shell membrane thickness, egg fossils are preserved only as evidenced by extrusion, plastic deformation can be observed simultaneously on the same pieces of eggshell and brittle. The discovery first defined the pterosaur eggs mainly for pliable and leathery eggshells, egg shell with a thin outer layer of hardened layer of calcium, they are snakes such as egg snake is very similar to the fill the ecological habits of a pterosaur breeding behavior and some of the gaps.

Is the mysterious flying reptiles pterosaurs, about 70 million years earlier than birds flying into the sky, fly to the sky was also among the three categories of vertebrates (pterosaurs, birds and bats), the only extinct taxa. In 2005, the Institute of ancient spine Qiu Zhanxiang researcher travelled to Xinjiang's Turpan and Hami area trip, found a few small pieces of the broken bones in the wild that it might belong to the pterosaur fossils and later confirmed by Wang Xiaolin and identification, which lifted the Hami pterodactyl prelude to important discoveries and research, Hami has also become China's another important pterosaur fossil treasure trove. (End text)

(Original title: discovery of three-dimensional, Hami, Xinjiang, saving pterosaur egg and a large pterosaur fossils (map))

(Edit: SN048)
00:06 June 06, 2014 China News Network