Dataset Information

A New Basal Salamandroid (Amphibia, Urodela) from the Late Jurassic of Qinglong, Hebei Province, China.

ABSTRACT: A new salamandroid salamander, Qinglongtriton gangouensis (gen. et sp. nov.), is named and described based on 46 fossil specimens of juveniles and adults collected from the Upper Jurassic (Oxfordian) Tiaojishan Formation cropping out in Hebei Province, China. The new salamander displays several ontogenetically and taxonomically significant features, most prominently the presence of a toothed palatine, toothed coronoid, and a unique pattern of the hyobranchium in adults. Comparative study of the new salamander with previously known fossil and extant salamandroids sheds new light on the early evolution of the Salamandroidea, the most species-diverse clade in the Urodela. Cladistic analysis places the new salamander as the sister taxon to Beiyanerpeton, and the two taxa together form the basalmost clade within the Salamandroidea. Along with recently reported Beiyanerpeton from the same geological formation in the neighboring Liaoning Province, the discovery of Qinglongtriton indicates that morphological disparity had been underway for the salamandroid clade by early Late Jurassic (Oxfordian) time.

SUBMITTER: Jia J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4856324 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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A New Basal Salamandroid (Amphibia, Urodela) from the Late Jurassic of Qinglong, Hebei Province, China.

Jia Jia J Gao Ke-Qin KQ

PloS one 20160504 5

A new salamandroid salamander, Qinglongtriton gangouensis (gen. et sp. nov.), is named and described based on 46 fossil specimens of juveniles and adults collected from the Upper Jurassic (Oxfordian) Tiaojishan Formation cropping out in Hebei Province, China. The new salamander displays several ontogenetically and taxonomically significant features, most prominently the presence of a toothed palatine, toothed coronoid, and a unique pattern of the hyobranchium in adults. Comparative study of the ...[more]

PMID: 27144770

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Project description:Yunnan Province, China is thought to be the original source of biovar Orientalis of Yersinia pestis, the causative agent of the third plague pandemic that has spread globally since the end of the 19th century. Although encompassing a large area of natural plague foci, Y. pestis strains have rarely been found in live rodents during surveillance in Yunnan, and most isolates are from rodent corpses and their fleas. In 2017, 10 Y. pestis strains were isolated from seven live rodents and three fleas in Heqing County (HQ) of Yunnan. These strains were supposed to have low virulence to local rodents Eothenomys miletus and Apodemus chevrieri because the rodents were healthy and no dead animals were found in surrounding areas, as had occurred in previous epizootic disease. We performed microscopic and biochemical examinations of the isolates,and compared their whole-genome sequences and transcriptome with those of 10 high virulence Y. pestis strains that were isolated from the adjacent city (Lijiang). We analyzed the phenotypic, genomic, and transcriptomic characteristics of live rodent isolates. The isolates formed a previously undefined monophyletic branch of Y. pestis that was named 1.IN5. Six SNPs, two indels, and one copy number variation were detected between live rodent isolates and the high virulence neighbors. No obvious functional consequence of these variations was found according to the known annotation information. Among the genes that were differentially expressed between the live rodent isolates and their high virulence neighbors, we detected five iron transfer-related genes that were significantly up-regulated in live rodent isolates compared with high virulence isolates (|log2 (FC) | >1, p.adjust <0.05), indicating these genes may be related to the low-virulence phenotype. The novel genotype of Y. pestis reported here provides further insights into the evolution and spread of plague as well as clues that may help to decipher the virulence mechanism of this notorious pathogen.

Project description:BackgroundSouthwestern Henan Province in central China contains many down-faulted basins, including the Xixia Basin where the Upper Cretaceous continental sediments are well exposed. The Majiacun Formation is a major dinosaur-bearing stratigraphic unit that occurs in this basin.Methodology/principal findingsA new basal hadrosauroid dinosaur, Zhanghenglong yangchengensis gen. et sp. nov., is named based on newly collected specimens from the middle Santonian Majiacun Formation of Zhoujiagou Village, Xixia Basin. Two transitional features between basal hadrosauroids and hadrosaurids are attached to the diagnosis of the new taxon, namely five maxillary foramina consisting of four small scattered ones anteroposteriorly arranged in a row and a large one adjacent to the articular facet for the jugal, and dentary tooth crowns bearing both median and distally offset primary ridges. Zhanghenglong also displays a unique combination of plesiomorphic and derived features of hadrosauroids, and is clearly morphologically transitional between basal hadrosauroids and hadrosaurids. Furthermore, some measurement attributes in osteology are applied to the quantitative analysis of Zhanghenglong. For these attributes, the partition of the dataset on most hadrosauroid species resulting from model-based cluster analysis almost matches taxonomic separation between basal hadrosauroids and hadrosaurids. Data of Zhanghenglong on selected measurement attributes straddle the two combinations of intervals of partitioned datasets respectively related to basal hadrosauroids and hadrosaurids. This condition is similar to mosaic evolution of morphological characters present in the specimens of the taxon. The phylogenetic analysis of Hadrosauroidea recovers a clade composed of Zhanghenglong, Nanyangosaurus, and Hadrosauridae with an unresolved polytomy.Conclusions/significanceZhanghenglong is probably a relatively derived non-hadrosaurid hadrosauroid, based on the inferences made from the morphological comparisons, quantitative evaluation of measurements, and cladistic analysis. In combination with information on the stratigraphy, phylogeny and biogeography, the material of Zhanghenglong provides direct evidence for the hypothesis that hadrosaurids might have originated in Asia.

Dataset Information

A New Basal Salamandroid (Amphibia, Urodela) from the Late Jurassic of Qinglong, Hebei Province, China.

Publications

A New Basal Salamandroid (Amphibia, Urodela) from the Late Jurassic of Qinglong, Hebei Province, China.

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