Sunday, August 13, 2006

 

Update on Chinese Paleontology

In keeping with this blog's focus on Chinese paleontology here's a link to a brief review of a Cretaceous lamprey from The Lancelet. Once again the Chinese fossil record provides new insights into the course of evolution across the phylogenetic spectrum. The task of chronicling the prehistory and natural history of China is an immense challenge. Over the last few decades paleontological research in China has burgeoned and has added crucial knowledge about the evolutionary history of diverse lineages. Access to this vast array of resources has also expanded exponentially as Chinese and foreign paleontologists have entered into mutually beneficial collaborations. There has, however, not been a thorough going popular review of Chinese prehistory since the publication of J. Gunnar Andersson's classic work on the natural history of China, Children of the Yellow Earth, in 1934.

As I continue to document the fossil record of China on the web with original contributions and links to other blogs, I will periodically publish indices of posts pertaining to particular aspects of Chinese paleontology arranged in chronological order. This will ultimately serve as a scafolding for a comprehensive overview of Chinese natural history.

Chronological index of posts dealing the non-primate fossil record of China:

  1. Early Cambrian Echinoderms of China

  2. Early Chinese Fish-like Vertebrates and Pre-vertebrates

  3. The Chinese Evidence for the Evolutionary Origin of Fish

  4. Origins of Lobe-finned Fish

  5. Panda's on the Mend
Upcoming posts will deal with pre-Cambrian phosphatized embryos, Mesozoic mammals, fossil birds, and Angiosperm origins.

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