Source | Beijing News Network, Xinhua Viewpoint
On September 29, the topic #Chinese scientists confirmed that humans evolved from fish# rushed to the top of the hot search list on Weibo.
The detailed process and specific significance of this discovery by Chinese scientists. Xinhua News Agency reporters interviewed the scientific research team. Chinese scientists recently discovered the "Chongqing Special Buried Fossil Library" and the "Guizhou Shiqian Fossil Library" in the early Silurian strata about 440 million years ago in Chongqing, Guizhou and other places. For the first time, it provided definite evidence for the rise of jawed vertebrates and the earliest radiation differentiation, and based on this, a series of new discoveries have been made, refreshing the traditional understanding of the early evolution history of jawed vertebrates. The research was completed by Academician Zhu Min's team of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The relevant results have formed 4 academic articles and were published online at the same time in the international academic journal Nature on the 28th.
"Chongqing Special Buried Fossil Library" fossil photo. (Photo provided by the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences)
, including humans, 99.8% of existing vertebrates on the earth have jaw bones. The emergence and rise of jaws are one of the most critical leaps in the evolutionary history of vertebrates. However, when and where did this leap happen? And how did it happen? The scientific community has long lacked paleontological evidence, and there is a huge gap of at least 30 million years in the early evolution of jaws. The discovery of fossil reservoirs in Chongqing and Guizhou fills this gap. The "Guizhou Shiqian Fossil Library" contains a large number of preserved jawed microbody fossils. The ancient fish fossils in the "Chongqing Special Buried Fossil Library" are not only numerous and complete in variety, but also very complete and exquisite in preservation. The research team used new technologies and methods such as high-precision CT and trait big data analysis to show the world the first jaw-like body structures and anatomical information.
Among them, the tooth rotation of the double-row Guizhou-toothed fish pushed the earliest fossil evidence of jawed teeth by 14 million years; the jawed Shen's sprigfish is the earliest well-preserved cartilage fish known to date, confirming that sharks evolved from the ancestor of "wearing a helmet and armor". The jawed fish Miracle Xiushan fish combines the characteristics of multiple shield-skinned fish major categories, providing precious information for exploring the origin of the main groups at the root of the jawed "tree of life" and the evolution of vertebrate skulls.
Zhu Min introduced that this discovery showed the appearance of the Silurian fish population, especially the jaw species, on a large scale, revealing the early rise of jaw species: up to 440 million years ago, major groups of jaw species had already flourished in South China; by the late Silurian period, more diverse and larger jaw species appeared and began to spread to the world. "It can be foreseen that the 'Chongqing Special Buried Fossil Library' and the 'Guizhou Shiqian Fossil Library' will continue to make continuous contributions to solving the mysteries of the origin of jaws in the future," said Zhu Min.
