Chief Scientist: LIU Jun
Email: liujun@ivpp.ac.cn

　　　　Therapsida is the advanced group of Synapsida, and is an important component on the tree of life. Paleontologists still debate on their interrelationships. Chinese Permian therapsids, especially those from the Dashankou Fauna, is a key to these issues. The Dashankou Fauna is the most primitive tetrapod fauna with therapsids in China and is dominant by the therapsids. Some therapsids in the Dashankou Fauna could be the most basal members of their groups; and they could fill the evolutionary gap or change the current phylogenetic trees. The team aims to search for more materials to increase the diversity of Permian fauna, detailedly study the available materials, position them on the phylogentic trees based on the comparison with the materials from other countries, especially those from Russia and South Africa, and discuss the evolution and interrelationships among major groups of therapsids.