THE STUDY OF EARLY CRETACEOUS MAMMALS IN EASTERN ASIA

20世纪90年代，在中国东部和日本的下白垩统陆相沉积和上白垩统底部陆相沉积中，先后发现了几种哺乳动物化石。它们按时间顺序被分类如下：白垩纪上Mifune动物群：日本熊本Mifune。下阜新动物群：辽宁阜新，中国。阿普提安-阿尔比亚沙海动物群：辽宁沙海，中国。巴列棉-阿普田义县动物群：辽宁义县，中国。新库米安土城子动物群：辽宁青侯，中国。新科米安Tetori动物群：石川，Shiramine，日本。[中英文摘要]本项研究的主要目的是弄清白垩纪早期哺乳动物的进化序列。在辽宁阜新地区的发掘遗址上，中国研究小组发现了几种独特的哺乳动物。它们包括：真兽类，代表变态动物和真兽类之间的中间阶段；等三齿动物亚科和多瘤哺乳动物亚科，迄今仅在欧洲和北美发现，为中生代后期哺乳动物动物地理学的进化发展提供了新的信息。它们很快就会在科学论文中得到描述。

During 1990's, several mammal fossils have been recovered from the continental deposits of the Lower Cretaceous and the base of the Upper Cretaceous in both Eastern China and Japan. They are classified chronologically in ascending order as follows :Cretaceous Upper Mifune Fauna : Mifune, Kumamoto, Japan. CenomanianLower Fuxin Fauna : Fuxin, Liaoning, China. Aptian - AlbianShahai Fauna : Shahai, Liaoning, China. Barrremian - AptianYixian Fauna : Yixian, Liaoning, China. NeocomianTuchengzi Fauna : Qing-Xhou, Liaoning, China. NeocomianTetori Fauna : Shiramine, Ishikawa, Japan. NeocomianIt is the major purpose of the present research project to clarify the evolutionary sequence of the mammalian phylogeny during the earaly phase of the Cretaceous, which has hitherto been unknown.At the excavation sites in Fuxin area, Liaoning, China, several unique mammals have been discovered by the research team. They cinclude : eutherian mammal to indicate the intermediate stage between the metatherian and eutherian grade ; a subfamily of eu-triconodonts and a family of multituberculate mammals which have been known only from Europe and North America until now, which provide the new informations about the evolutionary development of mammalian zoo-geography during the later phase of the Mesozoic Era. They will be described soon in scientific papers.