Platypus is one of the most primitive mammals. It first appeared 25 million years ago and now lives only in Australia. Because of its slow evolution, this miraculous species with a duck's mouth and skeleton structure resembling reptiles has been paid much attention by the scientific community. Recently, Chinese scientists discovered a distant relative of platypus 200 million years ago.
Cover journalists learned from the Ministry of Natural Resources on February 18 that a team led by Cheng Long, senior engineer of the Wuhan Geological Survey Center of the China Geological Survey of the Ministry of Natural Resources, first discovered marine reptile fossils in the Nanzhang-Yuan'an fauna of the Early Triassic (about 248 million years ago) that had similar predation patterns to the existing platypus.
It is understood that platypuses search for prey in dark environments, not through their eyes, but through their unique soft beaks. The key skull features of two marine reptiles, Eretmorhipis carrolldongi, were very similar to platypuses, suggesting that the carodon fan dragon should have a similar predatory pattern to platypuses, possibly prawns or other mollusks at dusk or at night.
The discovery of this new predatory pattern in Nanzhang-Yuanan fauna indicates that marine carnivores had comparable ecological diversity with modern oceans in the late Early Triassic, suggesting that marine ecosystems recovered in the late Early Triassic after the mass extinction of organisms at the end of the Permian, rather than delayed to the middle Triassic as traditionally believed.
Nanzhang County belongs to Xiangyang City, Hubei Province, and Yuan'an County belongs to Yichang City, Hubei Province. Cover journalists learned that the Triassic vertebrate fossils produced in Yuan'an have the characteristics of early research history, large number of fossils and abundant types. There are not only the first-level protected fossils of Hubei crocodile, but also the second-level protected fossil of the country, the broad-headed distant salamander, which has important scientific value for the study of reptiles.
In Pingshugou, Nanzhang County, a group of marine reptiles named "Nanzhanglong of Sun's family" was discovered by geologists in 1959. "Sun's Nanzhanglong" lived in the late Triassic, more than 200 million years ago. In Gujing, Banqiao Town, Nanzhang County, the extinct marine reptile "Nanzhang Hubei Crocodile" has also been found. The crocodile and Nanzhanglong are close relatives. They are strong evidence for studying the migration of aquatic reptiles from land to sea and from sea to land. As early as 2014, Nanzhang fossil origin and Yuanan fossil origin together with Zigong fossil origin in Sichuan Province were selected as the first batch of 38 national key protected fossil origins in China.
Cover journalists note that in recent years, through field investigations and fossil excavations, the Nanzhang-Yuanan fauna research team of Wuhan Geological Survey Center has discovered a large number of preserved rare marine reptiles, including seven new genera and species. One of the oldest platypus-like predation methods discovered in this study is one of the achievements in the study of the formation of modern marine ecosystems. The process is of great significance.