A new species 150 million years old has been discovered! The "Zhenghe version of Jurassic World" is here

China is the country with the richest dinosaur species in the world. So far, more than 300 dinosaur species have been discovered, including 64 species in Liaoning, 40 species in Inner Mongolia, 33 species in Sichuan, and 25 species in Xinjiang...

But a few days ago, the first dinosaur was discovered in Fujian Province, achieving a breakthrough from zero to one. Moreover, this dragon has the characteristics of both dinosaurs and birds, and is a bird-like dinosaur that is 100 times more difficult to find than dinosaur and bird fossils.

On September 6, the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Fujian Institute of Geological Survey reported the discovery in the journal Nature and named the dinosaur "Miscellaneous Fujian Dragon". It is the world's latest Jurassic and geographically most southern avian dinosaur.

What is so "strange" about the strange Fujian dragon? What are the stories about its discovery and research? What can we learn from this result?

Members of the Aves family

(Image source: Wikipedia)

Part 1

What are Aves?

Most people can understand the common dinosaur classifications such as sauropods, theropods, ornithopods, and even tyrannosaurus and hadrosaurs, but which dinosaurs are represented by the Avenomous Dragon?

Aves are an evolutionary branch that differentiated from theropod dinosaurs in the early days. Their morphology is very similar to that of modern birds, but they still have teeth in their mouths and claws on their wings. Representative members are Anchiornis herculesii, which lived in the late Jurassic period and was discovered in northern my country 160 million years ago, and Archaeopteryx, which lived in Germany 150 million years ago.

Fujianosaurus is different from Anchiornis and Archaeopteryx in that it lived in the south, while the latter two lived in the north. Moreover, among the members of the Avifauna family, Fujianosaurus lived the farthest south. In addition, Fujianosaurus lived 148-150 million years ago, which is later than Anchiornis and Archaeopteryx, and is close to the late Jurassic period.

The strange Fujianosaurus fossil specimen and skeleton sketch

(Photo source: provided by Wang Min)

Archaeopteryx fossil specimen

(Image source: Berlin specimen, provided by H. Raab)

Anchiornis huxleyi fossil specimen

(Photo credit: National Museum of Natural History)

Part 2

“Strange” hind limb structure

Fujianosaurus had a short femur and long, slender tibia and metatarsals.

To put it simply, the thighs were very short and the calves were very long, and the calves were almost twice as long as the thighs, a ratio that exceeds that of the currently known theropod dinosaurs. Long calves mean fast running, such as the living ostrich, which can't fly but can run very fast with its wings spread. According to a rough calculation based on the proportions of the hind limbs, the "running score" of Fujianosaurus is higher than that of the troodonts, dromaeosaurs and tyrannosaurus, which are good at running, and it is very suitable for life on land.

In addition, the legs of wading birds that forage in water are also particularly long, such as common cranes and storks, so Fujian dragons may also be suitable for living in shallow water ecological environments. In short, the strange Fujian dragon can either run very fast on the ground or stroll leisurely by the water.

Fujianvenator scored the most points, indicating that it ran the fastest

(Photo source: provided by Wang Min)

Part 3

Mosaic evolution of bone morphology

The skeleton of Fujianosaurus shows highly mosaic evolutionary morphological features. "Mosaic evolution" is a term often used in paleontological research. Ancestral organisms have primitive features, while living organisms have advanced features. If primitive and advanced features appear simultaneously in an ancient organism, it means that its body parts evolved separately, each taking care of its own, and did not advance together. This is mosaic evolution .

For example, the canines (tigers) of vampires in movies are particularly long, but their molars (grips) are still flat, so it can be said that the teeth of vampires have the characteristics of mosaic evolution. Because for humans, long canines are primitive characteristics, and flat molars are advanced characteristics, the primitive and advanced characteristics of vampires coexist.

Back to the strange Fujiansaurus, its mosaic evolution is reflected in the following: the forelimbs are similar to those of Archaeopteryx, the pubic bone and ischium of the pelvic girdle have the typical characteristics of Troodon and Anchiornis respectively, and the hind limbs are also like several different dinosaur building blocks pieced together, which is also very "strange".

Part 4

The regret of fossil specimens

The only regret about the Fujianosaurus fossil specimen is that the skull is missing. The skull is the most important part of a fossil creature. With the skull, researchers can get more clues, spend more time, and tell more stories about what happened.

But in reality, skulls are harder to find than other body bones. During field surveys, we often see ribs, limb bones, vertebrae, or pick up teeth, but the skull is nowhere to be found. The most difficult skulls to find are probably those of sauropod dinosaurs, such as Mamenchisaurus, which has a body more than ten meters long, but a skull that is no bigger than a pillow. The Jianshe Mamenchisaurus and Hechuan Mamenchisaurus fossils discovered in the 1950s and 1960s did not have skulls. At that time, in order to complete the frame, the skull of a Diplodocus was borrowed to install them.

However, the importance of the strange Fujian dragon is too great, and even without the skull, it still has immeasurable research value. If the skull is found in future field excavations, it will be another important discovery, and the appearance of Fujian dragon may be rewritten.

Ecological restoration map of the strange Fujian dragon and Zhenghe biota

(Photo source: Zhao Chuang)

Part.5

How to draw a restoration of Fujiansaurus without a skull?

The fossil of Fujianosaurus has not found its skull, so how was the restoration image drawn? The answer is that the specimens of Archaeopteryx, Anchiornis, and Xiaotingsaurus, which are all complete and have preserved traces of feathers, were used to reconstruct the color of Anchiornis' feathers based on the fossil melanosomes.

So, in this great ecological restoration, Fujianosaurus is covered in feathers and has a tall crest, which is colorful and complements the red crest of Anchiornis. It steps on the newly captured Lilong and opens its big mouth to claim its prey.

In this scene, turtles and tortoises not far away are trembling, and volcanoes are erupting in the distance, emitting smoke. Volcanic ash slowly settles in the lake and forms tuff. Tuff buried the bodies of organisms that sank to the lakeside and eventually formed fossils. Billions of years later, a scientific expedition team split the stone slabs by hand and extracted tuff samples around the fossils for zircon U-Pb dating, and obtained the age of Fujian dragon, which is 148-150 million years ago.

Fossils of the Zhenghe Biota excavated in the wild

(Photo source: provided by Wang Min)

Part 6

Conclusion

Zhenghe in the south and Yanliao in the north are mutually supportive. In the late Jurassic period, the Yanshan movement in northern my country was strong, creating many mountain ranges and basins. In a basin at the junction of Liaoning, Inner Mongolia and Hebei provinces, an ancient lake sedimentary stratum records a once vibrant fauna, with active Anchiornis hercules, Ningcheng Tree Breathing Dragon, Hu Yaosaurus, Jehol Pterosaur, Ancient Flying Beast, Tianyi Chutia... This is the Yanliao fauna in the north.

Time flies, and the stars change. 10 million years have passed. In the late Jurassic period, the southern region of my country was affected by the subduction of the ancient Pacific Plate, and the tectonic movement was strong, forming widely distributed fault basins and accompanied by frequent volcanic eruptions.

In the basin of Zhenghe County, Fujian Province, a group of once active creatures are recorded in the lake and swamp sedimentary strata, including fish, turtles, pterosaurs and bird-winged dinosaurs. Today we call it the "Zhenghe Biota".

The two animal groups in the north and south are the only bird-winged dinosaur animal groups in my country during the late Jurassic period. Based on this, we can infer that many similar animal groups lived before the north and south. It requires us to rely on time and patience to discover them.

Group photo of the excavation team of Fujian's first dragon

(Photo source: Courtesy of Feng Wenqing)

Produced by: Science Popularization China

Author: Zhang Lizhao (Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences)

Producer: China Science Expo

This article only represents the author's views and does not represent the position of China Science Expo