A New Lamprey from the Cretaceous Jehol Biota

摘要

The recent study on a new species of lamprey by a team headed by ZHANG Miman (Mee-Mann Chang) from the CAS Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) has shed new light on the understanding of this primitive eel-like water-living creature. Their work was reported by a recent issue of Nature. With a history of more than 300 million years, the lamprey is one of the oldest aquatic vertebrates on Earth. However, its fossil remains are very rare and fragmentary. Only two important discoveries were made over the past 40 years or so. Both of them were found from the Carboniferous marine deposits in the United States. Unfortunately, all of them are not very well preserved and many of their morphological traits are difficult to identify.