A new species of Phoenicopsis subgenus Windwardia (Florin) Samylina, Phoenicopsis neimengguensis sp.nov., is recognized from the Middle Jurassic Zhaogou Formation in the Shiguai Basin, a Jurassic coal-bearing sedimentary basin in Inner Mongolia, China. Linear leaves are in bundles of six to eight and are attached on a short shoot. The leaf is amphistomatic with one or two irregular rows of longitudinally oriented stomata in each intercostal zone on the upper epidermis and three or four (occasionally six) rows of stomata in each intercostal zone on the lower epidermis. Each stomata is surrounded by four to six subsidiary cells with unevenly developed papillae. The anticlinal walls of epidermal cells are straight. Cuticular thickenings or papillae are present on the outer surface of the periclinal walls. This is the first time that Phoenicopsis subgenus Windwardia (Florin) Samylina is recognized from the Middle Jurassic of Inner Mongolia, China. The occurrence of the new species is noteworthy because it extends the geological and geographic distribution of Phoenicopsis subg. Windwardia in China and Eurasia. The discovery is significant as it increases our knowledge of Phoenicopsis subg. Windwardia by providing new data on morphological and epidermal features.
SUN ChunlinNA YulingDavid L.DILCHERWANG HongshanLI TaoLI Yunfeng
Subgenus Phoenicopsis (Phoenicopsis) assigned to Czekanowskiales is recognized and a new species, Phoenicopsis (Ph.) ordosensis sp. nov. is first reported fi'om the Middle Jurassic Yan'an Formation of the Ordos Basin, alternate based upon the leaf gross morphology and epidermal structures. The new species has linear leavs in bundles of five to six attached on a short shoot, more than 100 mm long by 5-6 mm wide, containing 10-12 parallel veins at upper portion. The leaf is hypostomatic. Epidermal cells are longitudinally arranged with smooth periclinal wall on the upper cuticle. The narrow non-stomatal zones and wide stomatal zones alternate in the lower cuticle. Stomata in four to five irregular spaced rows are longitudinally oriented in each stomatal zone. Guard cells for each are surrounded by four to five subsidiary cells with undeveloped papillae. Anticlinal wails of ordinal3, epidermal cells are nearly straight and periclinal walls slightly papillate. The new species shallow stomatal pits kept open and surrounded by unevenly undeveloped bulges. These characters are consistent with those of growth in a humid, rather than an arid climate. The presence of subgenus Phoenicopsis and other taxa of Czekanowskiales in the coal-bearing Yan'an Formation supports the view that the climate in the Ordos Basin was humid and warm with seasonal changes during the Middle Jurassic.
LI TaoLI YunfengNA YulingHUANG WeiTAN XiaoSUN Chunlin
Objective The Jehol Biota, a world-famous Early Cretaceous fossil Lagersttate characterized by the traditional Eosestheria-Ephemeropsis-Lycoptera (EEL) assemblage, has a wide distribution over most parts of northem China, the coastal area of southeastem China, southeastem Mongolia, Transbaikalian area of Russia, Korea and Japan (Shao et al., 2017). The Baishan Basin, situated in southeastern Jilin is one of the easternmost Jehol Biota localities in China. Until now, the fossils here belonging to Jehol Biota have not yet been reported except for few fossils listed in geological survey reports. The fossil collections here are noteworthy in that they are the first fossil record documented from the Early Cretaceous Yingzuilazi Formation of the Baishan Basin, southeastern Jilin and the easternmost locality of Jehol Biota, China. This finding is important to explore the distribution, evolution and biodiversity of the Jehol Biota and even the Late Mesozoic terrestrial ecosystem, as well as for the division and correlation of the Late Mesozoic terrestrial strata.
LI YunfengHUANG WeiWANG HongshanDavid L. DILCHERTAN XiaoLI TaoNA YulingSUN Chunlin
Situated at the easternmost area of the Late Mesozoic Jehol Biota, China, abundant fossils, including invertebrates, vertebrates and plants, were collected from the Early Cretaceous Yingzuilazi Formation of the Baishan Basin, southeastern Jilin. The faunal remains from this formation distinctly belong to the Early Cretaceous Lycoptera-Ephemeropsis-Eosestheria assemblage of the Jehol Biota. Based on the gross leaf morphology and epidermal structures, two new species and one indeterminate species of genus Solenites (Czekanowskiales), S. baishanensis sp. nov., S. gracilis sp. nov. and S. sp. are described in this paper. This is the first fossil plant of Czekanowskiales reported from this new fossil locality of the easternmost area of the Late Mesozoic Jehol Biota, China. The new discovery contributes to improve our knowledge for understanding of leaf morphology, epidermal characters and diversity of this genus during the Early Cretaceous time, and extends geologic and geographic distribution of Solenites in northern China and Eurasia. Along with consideration of associated plant and faunal assemblages and sedimentology, we suggest that the regional climate was warm and moderately humid with seasonal temperature and precipitation variations in warm-temperate zone during the Early Cretaceous.
LI YunfengSUN ChunlinLI TaoNA YulingCHEN YuejunXING Dehe
Although the evidence of insect oviposition on plant organs has been reported from the late Paleozoic to the Miocene, record from the middle Jurassic is still blank. This paper reports a significant evidence of insect oviposition on plant leaf from the middle Jurassic for the first time. The ovipositional scar is distributed on the abaxial surface of Sphenobaiera leaf(Ginkgoales) from the middle Jurassic Daohugou Formation of Inner Mongolia, China. A new ichnospecies Paleoovoidus venustus sp. nov. is described. The scar is elliptic to oval, arranged in longitudinal rows between leaf veins with almost regular distance, with its long axis paralleling to the leaf venation. This discovery adds new information to the morphology of insect endophytic oviposition probably produced by Odonata existed in a terrestrial ecosystem ~165 Ma ago. The new materials also provide important data for the study of insect reproductive biology, plant-insect interaction and coevolution, as well as understanding the paleoclimate and palaeoenvironment during that time in northeast China.