Biostratigraphical and paleontological studies on Late Cenozoic vertebrate fauna in Kyushu and its adjacent areas.

本文结合日本岛和亚洲大陆的生物地层学和古地理资料，对九州地区晚第三纪和更新世以及黄海和东中国海陆架的古脊椎动物群进行了详细的研究。在九州西北部的佐世保群和野岛群中，发现了许多脊椎动物化石，它们与日本中部中新世水上群的脊椎动物化石有很大的相似之处。2.以生物地层分区为目的，将九州地区上更新世地层划分为7个单元。这些细分是基于脊椎动物遗骸的地质范围，特别是脊椎动物化石的地质范围：1)剑齿鲨化石带，2)剑齿鲨标志带，3)赤刺剑齿鲨带，4)芒果目鱼带，5)剑齿鲨极光带，6)东方剑齿齿带和7)古龙牙带，按升序排列。九州的这些哺乳动物带与本州的上更新世地层中已知的带相关联。最近，在黄海、东中国海和台湾海峡的许多海底位置收集了大量的脊椎动物化石标本。脊椎动物区系以草原、森林和沼泽栖息地的草食性哺乳动物为主，可称为古海口石斑鱼-玛依Elaphurus mayai复合体。此外，这些动物群还代表了中国北部的中更新世周口店动物群和西日本内海的古奥氏齿-日本复合体。

In this study, the palaeovertebrate faunas of the late Neogene and the Pleistocene in Kyushu and the continental shelves of Yellow Sea and East China Sea are investigated in detail with special reference to the biostratigraphy and the palaeogeography of the Japanese Islands and the Asiatic Continents.1. From the Sasebo and the Nojima Groups in the northwestern Kyushu, many vertebrate fossils showing the faunal resemblance to those from the middle Miocene Mizunami Group in Central Japan are found. 2. For the purpose of biostratigraphic zoning, the Plio-Pleistocene formations in Kyushu can be divided into following seven units. These subdivisions are based on the geologic range of vertebrate remains yielded, especially of proboscidean fossils: 1) Stegodon bombifrons Zone,2) Stegodon insignis Zone, 3) Stegodon akashiensis Zone, 4) Mammuthus armeniacus proximus Zone, 5) Stegodon aurorae Zone, 6) Stegodon orientalis Zone and 7) Palaeoloxodon naumanni Zone, in ascending order. These mammalian zones in Kyushu are correlated to the zones known in the Plio-Pleistocene formations in Honshu.3. Recently, numerous specimens of vertebrate fossils were collected from many submarine locations of the Yellow Sea, East China Sea and the Taiwan strait. The vertebrate faunas are characterized by predominance of herbivorous mammals of the grassland, forests and swamp habitants and it may be said as the Palaeoloxodon haihouensis-Elaphurus mayai Complex. These faunas, furthermore, are considered to be represent the Middle Pleistocene Zhoukoutien Fauna in North China and the Palaeoloxodon-Nipponicervus Complex in the Seto Inland Sea of West Japan.