Early Pleistocene Mammalian Fauna From Bajiazui, Qingyang, Gansu, China And Their Environment

The materials studied in this article were collected by professorsWang Yongyan and Xue Xiangxu in 1961-1964 from the lower Pleistocene loess deposits in Qingyang County , Gansu province of north China. The fauna has 11 genuses and 21 species, including Myospalax sp., Homotherium crenatidens, Megantherium of inexpectatus, Canis chihliensis, Cuon of. dubius, Vulpes cf. chikushanensis, Meles cf. teilhardi, Felis sp., Hyaena licenti, Coelodonta nihowanensis, Hipparion (Proboscidipparion) sinensis, Equus teilhardi, E. wangi, E. qingyangensis, Sus lydekkeri, Euctenoceros sp., Gazella sinensis, Gazella cf. kueitensis, Leptobos cf. amplifrontalis. The specimens of Equus of the fauna had been studied by Deng Tao and Xue Xiangxu in detail(1999).With common methods , such as taxonomy , anatomy , paleontology and stratigraphy , we studied the others mammalian fossils and the fauna. Studied the components of the Bajiazui fauna ,the fauna age ,the paleoclimate and paleoenvironment can be revealed .By comparing with the other faunas of Early Pleistocene,the age of Bajiazui fauna is the early of Early Pleistocene, between those of Longdan and Nihewan faunas(2.2-1.8MaB.P.). Analysising the members of Bajiazui fauna , the paleoenvironment was grassland with bushes and scattered trees;the paleoclimate was a sort of transition a climate from warm and humid to cold and dry and vice versa.