There is a mysterious land in the western Liaoning of the mainland, which is called "China Jurassic Park". In 1988, not only the famous Chinese and foreign "Confucius Birds" were unearthed here, but also a large number of dinosaur fossils from the Cretaceous period were found. It is recognized as one of the origins and birthplaces of many creatures on Earth.
In 2013, the International Institute for Species Development (IPEC) published 100 of the Earth's New Species, which includes 100 of the most amazing species discovered on Earth. Among them, the "Archaeopteryx turtle" discovered by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the "Dila Lihua" discovered and named by the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences were selected among them.
The book selects 100 species, including the largest, smallest, oldest, most endangered, and most extreme, from the 200,000 species that have been published and named around the world in the past. The vast majority of these are modern species, with only 10 fossil species and higher plant fossils with only "dilarias". Dilaria was chosen for the following reason: "The earliest flower in the world with a completely modern flower structure." "In layman's terms, ordinary people can recognize this fossil as a flower at a glance.
Unearthed in Yixian County, Jinzhou City, Liaoning Province, this fossil comes from a strata 125 million years ago, and the well-known flower structure can be seen in the fossils, including peduncles, duvets, stamens and pistils, and more than a dozen pollen grains have been analyzed from the fossils. All of this evidence suggests that this is a fossil with the structure of a well-known, typical flower.
After two years of research, the researchers finally determined that the fossil was formed in the Early Cretaceous Period, the earliest typical flower to date, and they gave it a nice name - Dilaria. Among them, Dila is its species name and Lily is its genus name.
So, can this flower, which grew 125 million years ago, be called the ancestor of modern flowers? Although the "appearance" of the dila lily is very close to that of modern flowers, there are still differences, the researchers said. The "Dilaria" already bore much resemblance to today's flowers – the duvet was spoon-shaped and had parallel veins. The ovary is partially wrapped in a fleshy set that forms a fruit when ripe. Still, it's different from the flowers we have now. For example, the stamens part of the Dilarian flower is very peculiar, it is spherical, the top of the anther grows a lot of spines, which is completely different from modern flowers, and the ovary part is wrapped in a fleshy sleeve, which is also not found in modern flowers.
In two years of research, scientists from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have been trying to associate this ancient flower from 125 million years ago with modern flowers, and found that it is different from all contemporary flowers, and it should be an isolated genus of flowers.
According to their research, the Dilaria is most likely a flower of an aquatic plant. From the perspective of its flower morphology and structure, it should be a relatively evolutionary branch, which has undergone a long period of evolutionary development. It is certainly not the "ancestor" of modern flowers, but it is not easy to find the true "ancestor" of modern flowers. The first is that compared with other biological organs, the chance of flowers forming fossils is relatively small, and the second is that people often use modern plants as a model to pursue the earliest flowers, but the world hundreds of millions of years ago has been very different from today.
As mentioned in the previous paragraph, in 2013, the book "100 New Species of the Earth" compiled by the International Institute of Species Development included in addition to the Dilaria, there is another species from China, that is, the "half-toothed turtle" discovered in 2008 by Li Chun, an expert at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and his colleagues, which is the oldest known turtle in the world. Also known as "Archaeopteryx".
One day in May 2007, in the yard of a farmer in Xinpu Township, Guanling Buyi and Miao Autonomous County, Guizhou, Li Chun found a stone slab with fossil outlines on it that he was going to build a house. After Li Chun explained his intentions, the man of the farmer gave the fossil to Li Chun. A month later, Li Chun found two other similar fossils in Xinpu Township.
After restoration, experts found that the three fossils were turtles from 220 million years ago. Previously, the world's earliest turtle, recognized, was the proto-jawed turtle in Germany in the mid-Triassic period 210 million years ago. Judging from the three fossils, these turtles are about 30-50 centimeters long, and four or five ossified turtle plates have just appeared on their spines, and they can't see the hexagon, or even connect to one. The ribs on both sides show marked widening, and the carapace on the belly and the fine teeth on their upper and lower jaws are almost the same as those of modern turtles. In addition, after further research by experts, the fossils of the "half-carapace-toothed turtle" from Guanling proved that the formation of the shell abdominal carapace of the turtle shell was much earlier than that of the dorsal carapace, and the dorsal carapace was first ossified from the upper part of the spine, that is to say, the tortoiseshell was formed from the bottom up with the expansion of the vertebrae and ribs, rather than from the evolution of the skin.
This also proves that turtles originated in water. Because of this, the discovery of the "half-toothed turtle" has pushed the history of the turtle forward by more than 10 million years.