Reports of Paleonotogical Expedition to Sinkiang(II)—Peterosaurian Fauna from Wuerho, Sinkiang

Author: Edited by Dong Zhiming
Language: Chinese with English summary
Published on: 1973-01
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An early Cretaceous(Tugulo series) reptilian fauna is described in a series of papers in the present memoir. The materials were collected in 1964 by members of the paleontological expedition to Sinkiang of IVPP from Wuerho district, in the northwestern part of Dzungar Basin.

This fauna includes the following reptile species: Chelonian, Pterosauria, Crocodilian, Plesiosauria, Saurischia And Ornithischia. The reptilian fossils are all found in a series (Tugulo) of lacustrine sediments. The fauna in general can be slosely correlated with that of Morrison fauna of the Rocky Mountain region of the western north America, but some of the forms are nearer to those of Cloverly formation.

A leading form in this fauna is Dsungaripterus, which is considered by Young to represent a new family and suborder of the pterosaurs. It is a large form with well-developed medial crest on the skull and the anterior teeth entirely disappeared. Based on these advanced characteristics Young has suggested an early Cretaceous age for it. The occurrence of a small theropoda, Phaedrolosaurus ilikensis,, which is comparable with Deinonychus from the Lower Cretaceous of Montana, supports this view. Therefore, We have tentatively set the age of the Tugulo fauna of Wuerho at the early Early Cretaceous.

【CONTENTS】

Cretaceous Stratigraphy of Wuerho district, Dsungar Basin
Chelonian fossils from Wuerho
Plesiosaur remains discovered in Dsungar basin, Sinkiang
Pterosaurs from Wuerho
A new fossil crocodile from Wuerho
Dinosaurs from Wuerho
Appendix
A vertebrate fauna from Tugulo Series of Dlunshan, Dsungar Basin