[news]Chinese scientists find 1st fossil embryo
<DIV><P><FONT size=4>Scientists in China have discovered a fossil thought to be more than 120 million-years-old containing an embryo of a flying reptile that lived alongside the dinosaurs. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4>It is the only known fossil of an embryo of a pterosaur, a winged lizard that evolved powered flight. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4>Wang Xiaolin and Zhou Zhonghe of the </FONT><a href="http://www.cas.ac.cn/" target="_blank" ><FONT color=#3300ff size=4>Chinese Academy of Sciences</FONT></A><FONT size=4> in </FONT><a href="http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/data/province/beijing.html" target="_blank" ><FONT color=#3300ff size=4>Beijing</FONT></A><FONT size=4> said that dinosaur embryos have been discovered all over the world, but so far no pterosaur embryos have been reported. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4>The embryo is preserved in an almost complete egg and was found in the sediment of a lake in </FONT><a href="http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/data/province/liaoning.html" target="_blank" ><FONT color=#3300ff size=4>Liaoning</FONT></A><FONT size=4> in northeastern China that is known for its fossil riches. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4>The Chinese scientists said the Liaoning embryo has a wingspan of 10.6 inches, indicating that the embryo would have grown up into a medium-to-large pterosaur. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4>The earliest pterosaurs, the first known flying vertebrates, lived about 230 million years ago. They died out about 65 million years ago. </FONT></P>
<P><EM><FONT size=4>Source: CRI news</FONT></EM></P></DIV>
[此贴子已经被作者于2004-6-10 23:23:34编辑过]
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