Dashankou Fauna: A Unique Window on the Early Evolution of Therapsids
摘要
In the 1980s, the Insti tute of Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences (IGCAGS) sent an expedition to the area north of the Qilian Mountains to study the local terrestrial Permian and Triassic deposits. A new vertebrate fossil locality, later named Dashankou Fauna, was discovered by Prof. CHENG Zhengwu in Dashankou, Yumen, Gansu Province in 1981. Small-scale excavations in 1981, 1982 and 1985 demonstrated that this locality was a source of abundant and diverse vertebrate fossils. In the 1990s, supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the IGCAGS, the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) under CAS, and the Geological Museum of China formed a joint team to work on this fauna. Three largescale excavations, undertaken in 1991, 1992, and 1995 respectively, as well as the subsequent ones held by Dashankou Fauna: A Unique Window on the Early Evolution of Therapsids