On April 7, Beijing, Researcher Xu Guanghui from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences was interviewed by a reporter from China News Agency. His research team recently discovered a large carnivorous species 244 million years ago in Panzhou City, Guizhou Province. The skeleton of the new fin fish fossil, named "Panzhou storm fish", represents the oldest fossil new evidence of the verrucodon family so far.

  The study found that the "Panzhou storm fish" evolved different ecological characteristics from the previously discovered "Yunnan storm fish" and all other warttooth fish, showing a more "rough and tough" side: its teeth are particularly strong. It also looks very "cruel".

  Xu Guanghui said that "Panzhou storm fish" was the first discovery of the genus Panzhou in Guizhou. Its body length is 26 cm. It has a large, obese or even hunched body, and its head is densely covered with relatively large tumors. The upper and lower jaw mouth margins are respectively. There are 5 big buck teeth that stretch forward, and there are huge grinding teeth in the mouth, which can make the prey shudder.

The discovery of "Panzhou storm fish" further verified a mature and complex ecosystem, which had been established in the South China Sea (Eastern Paleo-Tethys Ocean) in the early Middle Triassic.

  Xu Guanghui pointed out that the eye-catching humpback shape of "Panzhou storm fish" was discovered for the first time in the genus Verrucodon, and it was also the first discovery in Asia's backbone neofin fish.

The basic neofin fish have high biodiversity in the Triassic, and they are important fossil evidence for studying the marine ecosystem after the end of the Permian era.

  Wartodons are the largest carnivorous basic neofin fish in the Triassic. In the past, wartodons were mainly found in the marine environment of the Middle and Late Triassic in Europe. representative.

In recent years, as a close relative of the genus Cortodon, the discovery of the genus Paratodon in southwest China has unveiled the mystery of the ecological diversity of the genus Cortodon.

(Reporter Sun Zifa produced Li Jiali)

Editor in charge: [Liu Pai]