Background Tea trees originated in southwest China 60 million or 70 million years ago. Written records show that Chinese ancestors had begun drinking tea over 3000 years ago. Nowadays, with the aging of populations worldwide and more people suffering from non-communicable diseases or poor health, tea beverages have become an inexpensive and fine complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapy. At present, there are 3 billion people who like to drink tea in the world, but few of them actually understand tea, especially on its development process and the spiritual and cultural connotations. Methods We searched PubMed, Google Scholar, Web of Science, CNKI, and other relevant platforms with the key word “tea”, and reviewed and analyzed tea-related literatures and pictures in the past 40 years about tea’s history, culture, customs, experimental studies, and markets. Results China is the hometown of tea, tea trees, tea drinking, and tea culture. China has the oldest wild and planted tea trees in the world, fossil of a tea leaf from 35,400,000 years ago, and abundant tea-related literatures and art works. Moreover, tea may be the first Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) used by Chinese people in ancient times. Tea drinking has many benefits to our physical health via its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, immuno-regulatory, anticancer, cardiovascular-protective, anti-diabetic, and anti-obesity activities. At the moment, COVID-19 is wreaking havoc across the globe and causing severe damages to people’s health and lives. Tea has anti-COVID-19 functions via the enhancement of the innate immune response and inhibition of viral growth. Besides, drinking tea can allow people to acquire a peaceful, relaxed, refreshed and cheerful enjoyment, and even longevity. According to the meridian theory of traditional Chinese medicine, different kinds of tea can activate different meridian systems in the human body. At present, black tea (fermented tea) and green tea (non-fermented tea) are the most popular in the world. Black tea accounts for over 90% of all teas sold in western countries. The world’s top-grade black teas include Qi Men black in China, Darjeeling and Assam black tea in India, and Uva black tea in Sri Lanka. However, all top ten famous green teas in the world are produced in China, and Xi Hu Long Jing tea is the most famous among all green teas. More than 700 different kinds of components and 27 mineral elements can be found in tea. Tea polyphenols and theaflavin/thearubigins are considered to be the major bioactive components of black tea and green tea, respectively. Overly strong or overheated tea liquid should be avoided when drinking tea. Conclusions Today, CAM provides an array of treatment modalities for the health promotion in both developed and developing countries all over the world. Tea drinking, a simple herb-based CAM therapy, has become a popular man-made non-alcoholic beverage widely consumed worldwide, and it can improve the growth of economy as well. Tea can improve our physical and mental health and promote the harmonious development of society through its chemical and cultural elements.
A controversial taxon, Hipparion plocodus, is reviewed in the present study. Hi. plocodus has been confirmed to be a valid species with definite diagnostic characteristics, represented by cranial specimens from Baode, Shanxi Province. The phylogenetic analysis performed in the present study, with a new matrix, shows that Hi. plocodus forms a monophyletic group with a European species, Hippotherium malpassii. Actually, no close relationship between so-called Hm. malpassii and the genus Hippotherium has been identified, and the record of stratigraphic range of this genus in late stage of Late Miocene is currently absent. Herein previously Hi. plocodus and Hm. malpassii have both attributed into “Hipparion” before the discovery of better material. Evolutionary stages and correlative absolute age showed that these two species should derive independently from some primitive clade. During the late stage of the Late Miocene, the development of the Asian summer monsoon enhanced the humidity of China, with forest and wood habitats expanding considerably under this setting. As the result, one Eurasian closed-habitat lineage thus extended its range into China, which had become very suited for it, give rise to “Hi.” plocodus.
Taxonomy of the Late Cretaceous desmoceratine ammonoid genus “Damesites” and allied taxa is revised and updated based on newly collected population samples from the Yezo Group, Hokkaido, Japan, together with their type specimens. Previously known seven species and subspecies of “Damesites” from the upper Turonian to lower Campanian in the northwest Pacific province are reassigned to one revised species of Damesites and two species of Paradamesites gen. nov. based on clear differences in developmental patterns of ribs and growth lines. The genus Damesites should be strictly applied to the north Pacific Realm’s species like Damesites damesi. On the other hand, the long-established species “Ammonites sugata” (= “Damesites sugata”), ranging from the middle Turonian to Santonian in the African- Indian, European, northwest and northeast Pacific provinces, is re-assigned here to a new genus Paradamesites forming new combination Paradamesites sugata. Late Turonian “Damesites ainuanus” and Coniacian “Damesites sp.” from the Yezo Group are junior synonyms of P. sugata. Paradamesites rectus gen. et sp. nov., previously called “Damesites sugata” from the Santonian–Campanian strata of the Yezo Group is a descendant of P. sugata. The revised species of Damesites and species of Paradamesites gen. nov. co-occur sympatrically in the Late Cretaceous of north Pacific Realm. Both the revised Damesites and its ancestral genus Tragodesmoceroides originated in the north Pacific Realm, and most species during the Turonian–Campanian were endemic to the north Pacific Realm. Paradamesites, in contrast, originated in the African-Indian province and became widespread. Paradamesites sugata appears to have migrated from the African-Indian province to the north Pacific Realm during the latest Turonian–Coniacian and subsequently dispersed as a cosmopolitan species. Similar evolutionary patterns are also recognized in some other ammonoid families (e.g., Gaudryceratidae, Tetragonitidae, Desmoceratidae, and Kossmaticeratidae) during the Late Cretaceous of the northwest Pacific province.
Tritylodontids are close relatives of mammals with specialized teeth adapted for herbivory. Despite their diversification during the Jurassic, the fossil record of this clade suggests they declined significantly in the Cretaceous when they are mainly represented by fragmentary dental remains. The exception is the Early Cretaceous taxon Fossiomanus sinensis Mao et al., 2021. Here we describe a new mandible of this species from the same locality as the holotype specimen. The new specimen provides more complete information on mandible shape and tooth morphology, filling a knowledge gap for this iconic Cretaceous tritylodontid, given that cranial morphology in the holotype of F. sinensis remains insufficiently studied. Additionally, the fossil record of F. sinensis represents the youngest known tritylodontid (~119 Ma, Aptian) and the latest non-mammaliaform cynodont, shedding light on the evolutionary history of early mammalian relatives.
Pan-trionychids are a group of aquatic turtles with a geological occurrence from the Early Cretaceous to the present. Here, we report a small pan-trionychid specimen from the Upper Cretaceous Zhoutian Formation of the Ganzhou Basin of Jiangxi Province, China, which consists of a nearly complete carapace and several associated fragments. The specimen is the first definitive pan-trionychid record from the Upper Cretaceous of southern China. Its general skeletal features are comparable with those of other pan-trionychids from the mid Cretaceous of Asia. However, because the specimen appears to be a juvenile and lacks sufficient anatomical details, we refrain from naming a new species or hypothesizing phylogenetic relationships. Upper Cretaceous sediments in the Ganzhou Basin document a succession of turtle faunas ranging from aquatic pan-trionychids to semi-aquatic lindholmemydids to possibly terrestrial nanhsiungchelyids, but the relationship between this succession and paleoclimate remains ambiguous.
Abstract The marine turtle family Ctenochelyidae was a Late Cretaceous North American radiation of Pan-Chelonioidea, broadly distributed along the coastlines of the Atlantic Coastal Plain and Mississippi Embayment. Here, we describe a large, mostly articulated carapace representing a novel species of the ctenochelyid genus Asmodochelys from the Maastrichtian Neylandville Marl Formation in north central Texas. The specimen is diagnosed as a ctenochelyid by its large cordiform carapace with a broad nuchal embayment, prominent neural keel with epineural ossifications, and costoperipheral fontanelles. It has a unique combination of characters: large size (~ 120 cm); epineurals dorsal to N1/2, N3/4, N5/6, and N7/8; robust articulation between costal 1 and peripherals 1–2; lack of postnuchal fontanelles; pronounced anterior horn-like projection of peripheral 1; weakly scalloped posterior peripherals. Maximum parsimony phylogenetic analyses were conducted in TNT v1.6, and in the resulting majority-rule consensus trees, the specimen was positioned at the base of Ctenochelyidae in an unresolved polytomy with Asmodochelys parhami and the unresolved clade of (Peritresius ornatus + Prionochelys matutina + Ctenochelys acris + Ctenochelys stenoporus). The Neylandville Marl lies within the faunal zone of the marine oyster Exogyra cancellata, providing a particular marine ecological context that extends from Mexico to New Jersey. The new species extends the stratigraphic range of Asmodochelys into the Maastrichtian of the Gulfian Series, and geographically further west of the Mississippi Embayment to north-central Texas. It is one of the latest surviving members of the Ctenochelyidae persisting into the Maastrichtian, a time of global climatic cooling when other major Campanian marine turtle lineages, such as protostegids and Toxochelys-like early stem-chelonioids faced extinction.
Palynology and megafauna in Quaternary Lake sediments from Lagoa do Coronel, Jaguaretama – Ceará, Brazil. Numerous natural lakes and tanks function as areas for the accumulation of water and remains of humans and animals in the semiarid regions of the State of Ceará. These sites often hold important proxies (markers) of paleoclimate and vegetation and frequently contain past records of human and fauna presence. Lagoa do Coronel is one of these sites known for previous paleontological finds of Pleistocene megafauna. However, the aridity of the region leads the farmers to search for water in the deepest portions of the dried-up basins at the soil/rock contact, which normally causes stratigraphic disturbance, but put in evidence fossils and artefacts. In February 2021, the excavation of a well in the northern sector of the basin exposed a stratigraphic outcrop, a little more than two meters deep, where the strata intersected with a preserved structure of the deposit. The palynology of the upper horizons of the section suggests higher humidity and milder climate than the present one. Below the sampled horizon, a layer containing megafauna fossils (Xenarthra and Proboscidea) is present, but inaccessible due to the backflow of the water table within the trench. The study of previously recovered fossils is presented here. Keywords: Xenarthra, Proboscidea, pollen, Quaternary Lake sediments, Northeast Brazil.
Christian Klug, Stephan N. F. Spiekman, Dylan Bastiaans
et al.
Abstract Marine conservation deposits (‘Konservat-Lagerstätten’) are characterized by their mode of fossil preservation, faunal composition and sedimentary facies. Here, we review these characteristics with respect to the famous conservation deposit of the Besano Formation (formerly Grenzbitumenzone; including the Anisian–Ladinian boundary), and the successively younger fossil-bearing units Cava inferiore, Cava superiore, Cassina beds and the Kalkschieferzone of Monte San Giorgio (Switzerland and Italy). We compare these units to a selection of important black shale-type Lagerstätten of the global Phanerozoic plus the Ediacaran in order to detect commonalities in their facies, genesis, and fossil content using principal component and hierarchical cluster analyses. Further, we put the Monte San Giorgio type Fossillagerstätten into the context of other comparable Triassic deposits worldwide based on their fossil content. The results of the principal component and cluster analyses allow a subdivision of the 45 analysed Lagerstätten into four groups, for which we suggest the use of the corresponding pioneering localities: Burgess type for the early Palaeozoic black shales, Monte San Giorgio type for the Triassic black shales, Holzmaden type for the pyrite-rich black shales and Solnhofen type for platy limestones.
Christian Klug, Laure Bonnaud-Ponticelli, Jaruwat Nabhitabhata
et al.
Abstract Sigurd von Boletzky was a cephalopod researcher who was world-renowned for his enthusiasm for his field of research, for his friendly and calm personality, and, of course, his publications. He dedicated most of his life as active researcher on the development, biology and evolution of coleoids. Nevertheless, he was always curious to learn about other cephalopods as well. Sigurd passed away in Switzerland on September 28th 2020. We dedicate this text and volume to his memory.
AUBREY JANE ROBERTS, VICTORIA SJØHOLT ENGELSCHIØN, JØRN HARALD HURUM
The marine Middle Triassic sediments of Svalbard are rich in fossiliferous material and are particularly well-known
for marine reptile fossils. Here, we present a new specimen of the small-bodied mixosaurid ichthyosaur Phalarodon
fraasi from the Botneheia Formation. PMO 235.393 is unusual in being the first three-dimensional mixosaurid skull
recovered from this formation, allowing us to use computed tomography to reconstruct the obscured right side of the
cranium, resulting in the first 3D model available for a mixosaurid ichthyosaur. Although separated into different slabs,
the specimen preserves most of the dermatocranium as well as some partial post-cranial elements. In particular, the
rostrum, external naris, dentition, quadrate and sclerotic ring are well-preserved. This methodology gave new insights
into the adaptations this taxon has to durophagy, as well as a detailed look at the heterodont dentition present in PMO
235.393. After comparing with other Phalarodon specimens, it was clear that the maxillary heterodonty of this genus is
a synapomorphy. As such this was added as a new character in our phylogenetic analysis, supporting the separation of
Phalarodon and Mixosaurus.
The “condylarth” genus Hyopsodus is diverse and abundantly represented in Eocene mammalian faunas of North America.
In contrast, fossil specimens of Hyopsodus are rather sparse in Eurasia. Only four species of Hyopsodus are known from
Asia and two from Europe, as compared to the 18 species of Hyopsodus described from North America. Here, we report a
new species of Hyopsodus, Hyopsodus arshantensis sp. nov., from the middle part of the Arshanto Formation in the Erlian
Basin, Inner Mongolia, China. The holotype and only specimen of the new species, a right mandible with m1–m2, exhibits
a unique combination of characters on m1–m2 not present in other species of Hyopsodus, including a moderately lophodont
crown, a long trigonid without a paraconid, an obliquely aligned protolophid, an angle between the cristid obliqua and
the posthypocristid slightly greater than 90°, a midline position of the hypoconulid, and a relatively large entoconid. The
m1–m2 morphology of H. arshantensis is intermediate between specimens of Hyopsodus from the Wasatchian and Uintan
North American Land Mammal Ages (NALMA), and is comparable to that of Hyopsodus from the Bridgerian NALMA.
Moreover, its relatively large size is near the size range present among the late Bridgerian species of Hyopsodus. Based
on those similarities, in combination with a few fossil mammals from overlying layers, the middle part of the Arshanto
Formation could be correlated in part to the late Bridgerian, and the upper part of the Arshanto Formation may bracket the
time interval equivalent to the Bridgerian/Uintan boundary. That proposed correlation and somewhat different faunas recognized
within the Arshanto Formation suggest that it may be necessary to subdivide the Arshantan Asian Land Mammal
Age (ALMA) and/or redefine the Arshantan/Irdinmanhan ALMA boundary in future comprehensive studies.
The early Miocene marine deposits in Tierra del Fuego bear a group of struthiolariid gastropods that stand out for their high morphological variability. since the end of the 19th century this variability was interpreted as reflecting (1) a highly diversified rapidly evolving group of species or (2) a single, plastic species characterized by ample intraspecific variability. The morphological study of more than 100 specimens of the Fuegian struthiolariid genus Perissodonta Martens collected in the Carmen Silva, Viamonte, and Irigoyen formations indicate that significant parameters, such as shell shape, spire length and number of spiral and axial sculptures (cords, threads, tubercles) vary continuously within an ample range of values, favoring a single, plastic species. Topotype specimens of Perissodonta ameghinoi (Ihering), collected from the early Miocene Monte León Formation in Patagonia, show similar plasticity of characters. Furthermore, recent topotype material of Perissodonta georgiana Strebel from Islas Georgias del Sur, a species considered very close or junior synonym of the genotype species P. mirabilis (Smith), indicates a similar degree of plasticity. Accordingly, the Fuegian struthiolariids previously assigned to Perissodonta ameghinoi; P. fueguina (Ihering); or P. densestriata (Ihering) are here referred to P. ameghinoi, a struthiolariid gastropod restricted to the early Miocene in Tierra del Fuego and Patagonia.
OBJECTIVES The paleontological description and comparative analysis using discrete morphology, morphometrics (linear and geometric) and cross-sectional geometry of three femoral diaphyseal sections from the Middle Pleistocene site of Hualongdong, China. MATERIALS AND METHODS The material consists of the original Hualongdong femoral fossils and available data on femoral diaphyses from Middle and Late Pleistocene archaic humans and Middle and earlier Upper Paleolithic modern humans. The methods include visual observation, diaphyseal diameters, cross-sectional parameters (transverse areas and second moments of area derived from micro-CT scans), and geometric morphometrics using semilandmark data. RESULTS The Hualong 11 midshaft section is similar to other Middle and Late Pleistocene archaic humans in being transversely broad and lacking a pilaster despite a prominent linea aspera. It clusters principally with archaic human femora in all measured parameters. The Hualong 15 and 16 subtrochanteric pieces are similar to many Middle Pleistocene and early modern human femora in being transversely broad. In particular, Hualong 15 exhibits a prominent lateral (gluteal) buttress, similar to many Upper Paleolithic femora but also the Lazaret and Krapina archaic ones. In addition, Hualong 15 has a small third trochanter, a common Upper Paleolithic but rare earlier feature. DISCUSSION The Hualong 11 femoral piece reinforces the general Middle Pleistocene pattern, especially for eastern Eurasia from which archaic human femora are rare. The subtrochanteric proportions of Hualong 15 and 16 reinforce the Early Pleistocene and (generally) Middle Pleistocene pattern of bone distributions, but their subperiosteal contours align them (along with those of the Lazaret and Krapina femora) with Upper Paleolithic ones. It is difficult to account for these proportions from the generally broad pelves of Pleistocene archaic humans.
Mantodea are rather scarce in the fossil record, especially those belonging to the mantise crown group. Four fossil mantids are described from the lowermost Eocene amber of Oise (France), two Chaeteessidae considered as “genus and species incertae sedis”, and two Mantoididae, described as a new genus and species Pseudomantoida extendidera. We also describe a new specimen of Arvernineura insignis from the Paleocene of Menat (France), confirming the attribution of this taxon to the Chaeteessidae. These fossils are of great interest for future dating of the crown group Mantodea, being the oldest Chaeteessidae and Mantoididae. We propose a new genus name Louispitonia nom. nov. in replacement of Archaeophlebia Piton, 1940 preoccupied by Archaeophlebia Ris, 1909 (Odonata) with Archaeophlebia enigmatica as its type species.
The present study reviews the taxonomy of Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous oysters from the Northern and the Subpolar Urals (Western Siberia) and northern East Siberia. Previous studies have documented 10 species from the genus Liostrea (L. delta, L. cucurbita, L. praeanabarensis, L. anabarensis, L. plastica, L. gibberosa, L. planoconvexa, L. siberica, L. uralensis, L. lyapinensis), and 3 species from the genus Gryphaea (G. borealis and 2 species in open nomenclature). Liostrea gibberosa, L. planoconvexa, L. uralensis, and L. cucurbita are transferred in this study to the genus Pernostrea. Furthermore, two new species of Pernostrea are described: P. mesezhnikovi sp. nov. and P.? robusta sp. nov. Liostrea siberica is transferred to the genus Praeexogyra. Liostrea praeanabarensis and L. anabarensis are attributed to the subgenus Boreiodeltoideum (genus Deltoideum) as well as L. delta sensu Zakharov (1966) which is described here as new species Deltoideum (Boreiodeltoideum) borealis sp. nov. The similar shell morphology of the genera Deltoideum and Pernostrea provides a basis to establish the new tribe Pernostreini trib. nov. in the subfamily Gryphaeinae. Three species are recorded for the first time from Siberia: Nanogyra? cf. thurmanni, “Ostrea” cf. moreana and Gryphaea (Gryphaea) curva.
Juanita Rodriguez, Cecilia Waichert, Carol D. Von Dohlen
et al.
Spider wasps had long been proposed to originate in the mid-Cretaceous based on the Burmese amber fossil Bryopompilus interfector Engel and Grimaldi, 2006. We performed a morphological examination of this fossil and determined it does not belong to Pompilidae or any other described hymenopteran family. Instead, we place it in the new family Bryopompilidae. The oldest verifiable member of the Pompilidae is from Baltic amber, which suggests the family probably originated in the Eocene, not in the mid-Cretaceous as previously proposed. The origin of spider wasps appears to be correlated with an increase in spider familial diversity in the Cenozoic. We also we add two genera to the extinct pompilid fauna: Tainopompilus gen. nov., and Paleogenia gen. nov., and describe three new species of fossil spider wasps: Anoplius planeta sp. nov., from Dominican amber (Burdigalian to Langhian); Paleogenia wahisi sp. nov., from Baltic amber (Lutetian to Priabonian); and Tainopompilus argentum sp. nov, from Dominican amber (Chattian to Langhian).