A research team from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences found that the biodiversity evolution of birds had been influenced mainly by long-term climatic changes and also by the K-Pg extinction.

New findings on the brain and inner ear cavity of a 400-million-year-old platypus-like fish cast light on the evolution of modern jawed vertebrates, according to a study led by Dr. ZHU Youan and Dr. LU Jing from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

According to a study by scientists from the University of California at Berkeley and the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, a 50 million-year-old fossil from Antarctica, belonging to an extinct group of ocean-going birds called pelagornithids, is thought to be the oldest record of truly giant flying birds.Their study was published in Scientific Reports on Oct. 26.

One year after the publication of research on the Xiahe mandible, the first Denisovan fossil found outside of Denisova Cave, the same research team has now reported their findings of Denisovan DNA from sediments of the Baishiya Karst Cave (BKC) on the Tibetan Plateau where the Xiahe mandible was found. The study was published in Science on Oct. 29.

A joint research team led by Dr. MAO Fangyuan from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Prof. MENG Jin from the American Museum of Natural History has reported a new multituberculate mammal, Sinobaatar pani, with well-preserved middle ear bones.