Fossils in Guizhou push frontier of knowledge

Well-preserved Mesozoic Era fossils 250.8 million years old that were uncovered in Guiyang, Guizhou province, are providing new insights into evolutionary innovation.

Song Haijun's research team from China University of Geosciences in Wuhan discovered the finely preserved fossils known as Guiyang biota.

According to Song, the Guiyang biota has been proved as the Mesozoic layer of earth with the longest history found so far. It contains at least 12 classes and 19 orders, including diverse fish fauna and malacostracans (a kind of shelled creature), revealing a complex marine ecosystem. The fossils demonstrate the rapid rise of modern marine ecosystems after the Permian-Triassic mass extinction.

"The discovery of the Guiyang biota goes back to a field survey in the spring of 2015," Song said. His doctoral student Dai Xu found a strange fragment of a fossil lobster in black shale, which caught the attention of the whole team. Later, from 2015 to 2022, a team led by Dai carried out field work in the area. They found a large number of fossils in various categories, revealing the tip of the iceberg of the Guiyang biota.

Based on geological work, the research team clarified the main information of appearance, distribution, burial age and burial environment.

They said in their research that the Guiyang biota suggests some modern marine ecosystems have experienced faster diversification after the severe Permian-Triassic mass extinction.