China's 'Jurassic Park' yields more feathered dinosaurs, the earliest swimming mammal and strange salamanders

Fossils of curious creatures living 160million years ago were discovered in rocks beneath the famous Jehol Biota in north eastern China

They shed light on life in the Middle-Upper Jurassic when birds are believed to have evolved from feathered dinosaurs

Fossils of a salamander with external gills, the first swimming mammal with a beaver-like tail and early feathered dinosaurs were uncovered

A 'Jurassic Park' in China was once home to dinosaurs that lived among early mammals, amphibians and other strange creatures 160 million years ago.



The extraordinary fossil bed contains the bones of pterosaurs - early mammals – including the first known swimming mammal with a beaver-like tail, the earliest gliding mammal and feathered dinosaurs.



Their remarkably preserved remains were discovered in rocks beneath the Jehol Biota in north eastern China - a famous collection of 130 million-year-old fossils from the Cretaceous Period.



The extraordinary fossil bed contains the bones of pterosaurs - early mammals ¿ including the first known swimming mammal with a beaver-like tail, the earliest gliding mammal and feathered dinosaurs. This is a reconstruction of the Daohugou site's fauna

THE DAOHUGOU BIOTA

The Daohugou Biota is the name for a group of 160million-year-old fossils.

They were discovered in rocks beneath the Jehol Biota in north eastern China - a famous collection of 130 million-year-old fossils from the Cretaceous Period.

The fossils shed light on life in the Middle-Upper Jurassic 30million years earlier when birds are believed to have evolved from feathered dinosaurs.

Fossils include complete or nearly-complete skeletons associated with preserved soft tissues such as feathers, fur, skin or even, in some of the salamanders, external gills.

The soft tissues of feathered dinosaur Epidexipteryx have been revealed by the use of ultraviolet light scanners.

A fossil of a salamander Chunerpeton shows not only the preserved skeleton but also its skin and external gills.

The latest discovery sheds light on life in the Middle-Upper Jurassic 30million years earlier when birds are believed to have evolved from feathered dinosaurs.



The newly discovered Middle Jurassic fossils have been named the Daohugou fossils or Daohugou Biota after a village near one of the six sites dug up and have been catalogued and described in detail.



A new study has classified these fossils as belonging to a distinct ecological group, or biota from the famous 130-million-year-old specimens, which include the world's most exquisitely preserved feathered dinosaurs.



The Middle Jurassic fossils date from a time when many important vertebrates including mammals were undergoing evolutionary diversification.



Dr Corwin Sullivan, of the Institute of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Palaeoanthropology in Beijing, said: ‘The Daohugou Biota gives us a look at a rarely glimpsed side of the Middle to Late Jurassic.



‘This is not a parade of galumphing giants but an assemblage of quirky little creatures like feathered dinosaurs, pterosaurs with “advanced” heads on “primitive” bodies and the Mesozoic equivalent of a flying squirrel.’



A feathered dinosaur, Epidexipteryx, was found at the site. The inset shows feathers and soft tissues revealed by the use of ultraviolet light

Almost more impressive than the diversity of the biota is the preservation of many of the vertebrate specimens, according to the study published in the Journal of Vertebrate Palaeontology.

Fossils include complete or nearly-complete skeletons associated with preserved soft tissues such as feathers, fur, skin or even, in some of the salamanders, external gills.



One is the feathered dinosaur Epidexipteryx whose soft tissues have been revealed by the use of ultraviolet light scanners.



A fossil of the salamander Chunerpeton shows not only the preserved skeleton but also its skin and external gills.



Dr Yuan Wang, co-author of the study, said: ‘The Daohugou amphibians are crucially important in the study of the phylogeny and early radiation of modern amphibian groups.’



A fossil of the salamander Chunerpeton shows not only the preserved skeleton but also its skin and external gills (pictured) The site in China sheds new light on the array of fauna living 160million years ago

Dr Paul Barrett, dinosaur researcher at the Natural History Museum in London who reviewed the study for the journal, said: ‘Daohugou is proving to be one of the key sites for understanding the evolution of feathered dinosaurs, early mammals, and flying reptiles due largely to the fantastic levels of preservation.



‘Many of the fossils are stunning and offer vast amounts of information. There are only a handful of similar sites elsewhere in the world.



‘Because the Daohugou Biota and the much better studied Jehol Biota are similar in preservational mode and geographic location - but separated by tens of millions of years - they give palaeontologists an outstanding, even unique, opportunity to study changes in the fauna of this region over a significant span of geological time and an important period in vertebrate evolution.’

