甘肃临夏盆地发现已知最早的披毛犀化石  

The earliest known wooly rhino discovered in the Linxia basin,Gansu Province,China

作　　者：邓涛[1] 

机构地区：[1]中国科学院古脊椎动物与古人类研究所,北京100044

出　　处：《地质通报》2002年第10期604-608,共5页Geological Bulletin of China

基　　金：中国科学院知识创新工程(KZCX2-103);全国优秀博士论文专项基金;国家重点基础研究发展规划(G2000077700)资助项目。

摘　　要：披毛犀(Coelodonta属)是已绝灭的最著名的冰期动物之一。然而,披毛犀的早期记录只有少量材料来自几个约1.7MaBP的中国地点。本项研究从甘肃临夏盆地最早的黄土沉积中发现一个带下颌骨的完整披毛犀头骨和一个具乳齿列的幼年头骨,古地磁年龄测定约为2.5MaBP,是世界上目前发现的最早的披毛犀遗存,将披毛犀的历史向前推进了0.8Ma。这一发现对了解披毛犀的早期进化具有重要意义,因为其进步的特征显示Coelodonta属至少在上新世就已经从真犀族中分离出来。这些Coelodonta属的化石发现于代表干冷气候条件的黄土中,应是大冰期出现和青藏高原隆升所引起的结果。披毛犀起源于华北地区,在更新世时期广泛地扩散到欧亚大陆北部。The wooly rhino(the genus Coelodonta)is one of the most famous extinct animals of the glacial stage.However,the early record of the animal only includes a few materials with an age of ～1.7Ma from some localities in China.In this paper the author reports a complete skull with a mandible and a broken juvenile skull with a right milk tooth row belonging to the woolly rhino discovered in the earliest loess deposits at Longdan in the Linxia basin,Gansu Province,China.Paleomagnetic dating shows that the new material has an age of ～2.5Ma ;so it is the earliest remains of rhinos ever found in the world.This finding advances the history of rhinos for 0.8Ma and has great significance for the understanding of the early evolution of rhinos because their progressive features suggest that the genus Coelodonta had been dif-ferentiated from Rhinocerotinae at least in the Pliocene.The occurrence of these Coelodonta fossils in loess deposits representing dry and cold climatic conditions should be the result of the appearance of the Great Glaciation and uplift of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.Wooly rhinos originated in North China and spread widely to the northern Eurasian continent in the Pleistocene.

关 键 词：披毛犀 早更新世 古气候 甘肃临夏盆地 化石 

分 类 号：Q915.2[天文地球—古生物学与地层学] Q915.[生物学—古生物学]