Field Paleontological Exploration                                        return to Zhe-Xi Luo's main page

Fossil Vertebrate Fauna in the Jurassic of Yunnan, China (Fig. 6) – Terrestrial vertebrate faunas of the world underwent drastic changes across the Triassic–Jurassic boundary. The Mesozoic basins in Yunnan, China, have yielded the richest and best-preserved vertebrate fossils from this transition. The Lower Lufeng Formation (Lower Jurassic) in the Lufeng, Yimen, and Chuanjie Basins has exceptionally well-preserved fossils of early mammals, mammal-like reptiles, sphenodontians, crocodylomorphs, dinosaurs, and other archosaurs. Exploration of these Lower Jurassic sites has a good potential to augment our knowledge of terrestrial vertebrates of the early Mesozoic. Biostratigraphical work would allow a more reliable global correlation of the rich fossil sites of Yunnan. This work was in collaboration with Dr. Xiaochun Wu (Canadian Museum of Nature) and Prof. Zhiming Dong (Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Beijing).

Click on figure for larger version in a new window

Fig. 6

Fossil Vertebrates of the Jurassic Morrison Formation, USA (Fig. 7) – In collaboration with the CMNH colleague Dr. John Wible and the museum volunteers from Grand Junction, Colorado, Luo has worked on the fossil mammals from the Morrison Formation at the Fruita Paleontological Area in Colorado. Luo also joined Dr. Matthew Lamanna (CMNH) in the field course program by University of Pittsburgh to investigate the Morrison Formation of Wyoming. Current field research on Morrison Formation vertebrate fossils has relevance to CMNH’s Morrison collection, one of largest fossil vertebrate collections from the Morrison Formation of the North America.

Click on figure for larger version in a new window

Fig. 7

Lower Cretaceous Beds of Liaoning and Gansu Provinces of China (Fig. 8) – The Yixian Formation has produced the richest fossil record of a Mesozoic terrestrial biota in the world, including feathered dinosaurs, birds, many well-preserved mammals, and the primitive angiosperm plants. Luo’s research focuses on the Yixian fossil mammals through collaboration with Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences-Beijing (Prof. Qiang Ji), Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology (Profs. P-J Chen and G. Li). The field exploration of the Xinminbao Group is in collaboration with Dr. Hailu You (now at Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences), and this field work has yielded many new dinosaur fossils and other vertebrates.

Click on figure for larger version in a new window

Fig. 8

CMNH Research | Carnegie's Dinosaurs | CMNH Home