Unique Chinese Fossils Help Rewrite Book of Life

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, October 21, 2002

Unique Chinese Fossils Help Rewrite Book of Life

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"Dinosaurs are not extinct, and their descendants are living in the same world as humans." Sounds like an advertisement for a science fiction story.

The words, printed on the name card of a Chinese paleontologist, reflect the landmark findings and the latest research. Chinese scientists are making a big impact on world paleontological research as they have discovered the most extraordinary fossils over the past decade.

"China has complex tectonic plates and abundant fossils, and the discovery of many rare fossils in recent years has attracted the attention of the international scientific community," said Yang Zunyi, a 94-year-old academician from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the top scientific research body in the country.

Outstanding Paleontological Fossils

Guizhou, one of China's economically backward provinces, standsout at the beginning of the 21st century because of its numerous unique paleontological discoveries. It has become known worldwide as the "Kingdom of fossils (or of paleontology)."

The earliest known animal embryo fossil, roughly 670 million years old, was found beautifully preserved in phosphorite rock in southern Guizhou. Another 220 million years old fossil site in the province yielded a world treasure of rich and finely preserved specimens of encrinite and aquicolous reptiles.

"Paleontologists are flocking to Guizhou from all over the world. They feel they are fortunate to be able to see such unique fossils and to have chance to further their research," Dr. Wang Shangyan, general engineer of the geological and mineral survey bureau of the province, says.

The complex geology and diverse climate here has helped the survival of the world's largest forest of spindle tree ferns throughout the same latitudes and the dinosaur's favorite food in the Mesozoic era. In local museums, various types of dinosaur fossils are on display and speak of the evolution of eons.

Outside the Guizhou Province, new stunning fossil discoveries have been made throughout the country over the past few years. These discoveries all contributed to what paleontologists worldwide call the "rewriting of the evolutionary book of life".

Birds Origin

Since the 1990s many feathered dinosaurs' fossils have been found in western Liaoning Province, northeast China. Subsequent research linked the feather-like skins of the fossils to the plumage of birds. The feathered fossil specimen was later named Sinosauropteryx.

The link between dinosaurs and birds was first proposed by British scientist Dr. Thomas Henry Huxley in the mid-1800s. Paleontologists split into the two groups who continued sometimes acrimonious debates over avian origins and whether or not there was a link with dinosaurs.

The fossilized Sinosauropteryx is believed to be the dinosaur-bird link. The discovery answered the question about the appearance of "protofeathers" and so gave convincing evidence of the evolution of birds from small theropods, carnivorous bipedal dinosaurs with small forelimbs.

An even more startling find was made on July 22, 2002, in Liaoning's Yixian County, where Chinese scientists discovered the fossil of what was described as the Shenzhouraptor Sinensis, a theropod dinosaur that had been able to fly.

The discovery, the only parallel to Archaeopteryx, the most primitive avialae bird found in Germany in 1860, gave key proof tothe theory of the evolution of birds from dinosaurs.

The dove-sized Cretaceous Shenzhouraptor Sinensis, was only the second such primitive bird-type creature ever found in the world. It was at the same evolutionary stage as the Archaeopteryx, according to Dr. Ji Qiang, the fossil finder who worked with the Institute of Geology of the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences.

Judging from its shoulder girdle, beak, breastbone, limbs and feathers, avian paleontologists were certain that the new avialae bird was really capable of flight and is the missing link between theropod dinosaurs and modern birds.

Critics have long said the research into the evolution of birds from dinosaurs has lacked "the vital intermediary link." The discovery of the Shenzhouraptor Sinensis has filled the gap. This discovery not only put an end to the long-standing debates but unfolded a new landscape for further research," said Zhang Hongtao,deputy head of the China Geological Survey.

Vertebrates and Plants

Yunnan Province, in south China, is another paleontological hotspot. The fossils of fish-like creatures that could be the earliest known vertebrates were found in 1999 on the outskirts of Kunming, capital of Yunnan in southwest China. The creature, older than the previously found Wenchang Fish thought of the ancestor of vertebrates, was named the Haikouichtyus.

Being the world's oldest fish aged more than half a billion years, the Haikouichtyus has extended by a startling 50 million years the time when key features of vertebrates appeared. This finding was hailed by an American scholar as "an extraordinary achievement by humans in the remodeling the history of life on earth."

Back in western Liaoning Province, Chinese botanists found the fossils of the most primitive species of angiosperm, a plant whose ovules are enclosed in an ovary, according to the official website of the China Geological Survey. A new family based on the finds has been set up within the angiosperm phylum.

For a century, debate continued about the time and place of the origin of angiosperm. The discovery of the new genus has assured a solution to the problem.

The respected US Journal Science dedicated nine pages of stories and graphics in its first issue last year to give credit to China's outstanding research into paleontological fossils in recent years.

"Within lees than a decade, there have been found in China a staggering array of fossils of great significance to key evolutionary phases of life, and the country's paleontological research has jumped from being unremarkable to being the mainstay internationally," said Henry Gee, senior biology editor of the prestigious Nature journal based in Britain.

"I know many unique fossil specimens are still being researched, and I believe more spectacular findings will surface in near future in China," Ma Fucheng, deputy director of China's National Committee for Natural Sciences Fund, noted.

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