Chinese Paleontologists Seeking Key Links in Evolution

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, April 22, 2003

Chinese Paleontologists Seeking Key Links in Evolution

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With unique fossil resources, China's paleontologists have made new progress in tackling the riddles of life origin and evolution, according to scientists at the 22nd general meeting of the Paleontological Society of China.

The four-day meeting, which is held every two years, has attracted over 150 paleontologists from around the country to display their latest research results on paleontology, involving new life forms, the evolution of life and stratum study.

Scientists have found fossils of various fish-like animals in China's Yunnan Province, pushing back the history of vertebrates back 50 million years. In the latest issue of Chinese Science Bulletin, Su Degan, a researcher with Northwest University, claimed the fish-like animals are important in the transition of beings from invertebrates to vertebrates.

In China's northeast Liaoning Province, Jehol fauna has yielded large amounts of Mesozoic fossils, including over 1,000 from birds, dinosaurs, mammals, pterosaurs and amphibians.

"The latest finding of feathered dinosaurs and four-winged dinosaurs provides evidence to support the theory that birds evolved from dinosaurs," said Zhang Fucheng, a researcher with the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Researchers also discussed their latest progress on the late Triassic marine reptiles, the use of ancient DNA technology in exploring the origin of modern Chinese, the mass extinction in geological history, and the relationship between biological evolution and environmental changes.

Meanwhile, Chinese researchers also discussed the latest progress in stratum study. One of the most recent major steps forward is that the international geological community has accepted the Permian-Triassic boundary section in the Changxing area in Zhejiang Province as an international standard.

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