Three-dimensional specimens of the volant fossil bird Gansus yumenensis from the Early Cretaceous Xiagou Formation of northwestern China demonstrate that this taxon possesses advanced anatomical features previously known only in Late Cretaceous and Cenozoic ornithuran birds. Phylogenetic analysis recovers Gansus within the Ornithurae, making it the oldest known member of the clade. The Xiagou F...

and received his Ph.D. degree with honors at the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology of the University of Kansas in 1999. He returned to China in 1999 with the support of the " Hundred Talents Project " of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. His main research interest is on the origin and early evolution of birds, feathers, and bird flight. He is also involved in the study of Mesozoic f...

for study of systematic and palaeoecology of mid-cretaceous oysters, the basab section, with 380 m thickness, west of kuhbanan, northwest of kerman, was measured and sampled. the section comprises a high diverse fauna (macro and microfossils), such as echinoids, bivalves, oysters, brachiopods, gastropods, corals, ammonites, foraminifers and ostracods. the fossils indicate late aptian- early cen...

Diatoms are one of the most important eukaryotic primary producers in lower ecosystem; understanding their evolutionary history is therefore also important. Throughout Cenozoic hydrosphere, diatoms have flourished. However, as a result progressive diagenesis and dissolution opaline silica that forms frustules, early evolution during Cretaceous unclear, so fossil record incomplete. Largely becau...