作为三叠纪海生爬行动物的重要分子,幻龙属化石主要发现于欧洲、中东和中国西南地区的中三叠世海相地层,且主要集中分布于安尼期晚期和拉丁期晚期(Edinger,1921；Haas,1980；Rieppel,2000)。我国目前已报道的幻龙属化石有两种：杨氏幻龙(Li and Rieppel,2004)和幻龙属未定种(Rieppel,1998),它们均产于贵州省兴义地区的法郎组竹杆坡段,时代为中三叠世拉丁期。最近在贵州省盘县地区关岭组Ⅱ段地层中也发现了数量较多的幻龙骨骼化石,证明中三叠世早期东特提斯区同样生存着幻龙类。鉴于标本的骨骼特征与已知的幻龙属种相比存在一定的差异,因此本文建立一新种Nothosaurus rostellatus sp．nov．(小吻幻龙)。新种的个体在幻龙属种中为中等(头骨中线长210～320mm)；吻部短而小,具4个前颌骨獠齿,紧随其后是第5个明显较小的前颌齿；一对上颌骨犬齿之前有6～9个小型上颌齿；眼窝较大,卵圆形,位置相对靠前；内鼻孔的后缘由腭骨构成,具内鼻槽；外翼骨形成腹向凸缘；下颌具冠状突；背椎神经棘较低,背肋肩部明显加厚。N．rostellatus与其他已知种的主要区别特征是吻部形态和比例。新种的吻部较小,长略大于宽,前端钝圆,基部明显收缩,其吻部长度(从吻端至外鼻孔前端的距离)仅占其头骨中线长度的1/6～1/7,而其他种一般占1/4～1/5,具有细长吻部的N．haasi甚至接近1/3。此外,新种吻端-上颞孔前缘距离与吻端-外鼻孔前缘距离的比值也明显高于其他种。N．rostellatus区别于其他幻龙种的另一主要特征是上颌骨牙齿的数目和排列。在已知的幻龙属种中,很少有一对上颌犬齿前的上颌齿数超过5个者。新种正型标本ⅣPPⅤ14294在一对上颌犬齿前具有6个小型锥状上颌齿,它们大小相等,指向腹方。副型标本ⅣPPⅤ14301在一对上颌犬齿前具有9个小型锥状上颌齿。在已知的Nothosaurus中,新种
Protopteryx, a monotypic fossil bird discovered from the Sichakou basin in Fengning, Hebei, is the most primitive enantiornithine currently known. The bird-bearing strata do not contain the index fossils of the Yixian Formation in western Liaoning; the fish and bird fossils have more primitive features than the related forms found in the Yixian Formation, and the conchostracans are those usually distributed in the Dabeigou and Dadianzi formations in northern Hebei. Besides, the Protopteryx-bearing strata underlie the deposits bearing the index fossils of the Yixian Formation in the neighboring basin. Thus, it could be confirmed that the horizon of Protopteryx should be lower than the Yixian Formation, and is approximately equivalent to the Dadianzi Formation in northern Hebei. This is the lowest horizon of the known fossil birds in China and Mesozoic enantiornithine birds in the world. Accompanying Protop- teryx, there are other birds, acipenseriform fishes, salamanders, and mammals, which compose the Peipiaosteus fengningensis-Protopteryx fengningensis assemblage. This new assemblage traces the vertebrate evolution history of the Jehol Biota back to 130.7 Ma before. It is suggested that the de- marcation of the Jehol Biota should be based on the large-scale tectonic-sedimentary cycles, and Peipiaosteus, instead of Lycoptera, could be taken as the vertebrate representative of the Jehol Biota.
JIN Fan ZHANG FuCheng LI ZhiHeng ZHANG JiangYong LI Chun ZHOU ZhongHe
