A new species of Gobiconodon is found from the Yixian Formation of western Liaoning, China. The new taxa, G. zofiae sp. nov., has a confluent opening for branches Ⅱ and Ⅲ of the trigeminal nerve on the anterior lami...A new species of Gobiconodon is found from the Yixian Formation of western Liaoning, China. The new taxa, G. zofiae sp. nov., has a confluent opening for branches Ⅱ and Ⅲ of the trigeminal nerve on the anterior lamina of the petrosal. G. zofiae sp. nov. is similar to Repenomamus in having an ossified Meckels cartilage connecting the lower jaws and ear region. The new species, with enlarged I1/I1, posteriorly located infraorbital foramen and four mental foramina, distinctly differs from the other species of Gobiconodon. The new material indicates that Gobiconodon has four, not five, upper molariforms. The presence of Gobiconodon in Jehol Biota makes it possible to correlate Jehol Biota with faunas in eastern Asia and North America, and suggests the age of the Yixian Formation to be Early Cretaceous.展开更多
基金This work was supported by the Major Basic Research Project of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China(Grant No.G2000077700)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.49832020)the Chinese Academy of Sciences(Grant No.KZCX3-J-03).
文摘A new species of Gobiconodon is found from the Yixian Formation of western Liaoning, China. The new taxa, G. zofiae sp. nov., has a confluent opening for branches Ⅱ and Ⅲ of the trigeminal nerve on the anterior lamina of the petrosal. G. zofiae sp. nov. is similar to Repenomamus in having an ossified Meckels cartilage connecting the lower jaws and ear region. The new species, with enlarged I1/I1, posteriorly located infraorbital foramen and four mental foramina, distinctly differs from the other species of Gobiconodon. The new material indicates that Gobiconodon has four, not five, upper molariforms. The presence of Gobiconodon in Jehol Biota makes it possible to correlate Jehol Biota with faunas in eastern Asia and North America, and suggests the age of the Yixian Formation to be Early Cretaceous.
