Shanghuangliexi Fm

The naming section is located at Xiaomo Hill ~5 km southwest of Shanghuang Township, Liyang County, Jiangsu. Named by Qi Tao, Zong Guanfu and Wang Yuanqing in 1991.

Deposits consist of grayish white, fine conglomerate and coarse sand in the Lower part and yellow or red sandy clay in the Upper part. The thickness ranges from dozens of centimeters to >1 m.

Through screening, from the deposits were obtained 12 orders of mammals in addition to fishes, amphibians, reptiles and birds. Through a study of part of the materials, the following species are recognized: Lushilagus lohoensis, Miacis lushiensis, Adapoides troglodytes, Macrotarsius macrohysis, Tarsius eocaenus and Eosimias sinensis. From the general aspects, the fauna contains a certain quantity of the boreal type. On the basis of the dispersal event of Paleogene mammals on the North American continent and study of the Middle Eocene Bridgerian-Uintan boundary, it is estimated that the age of the Shanghuangliexi deposits is 45 Ma (Beard et al., 1994). As far as our present knowledge goes, in fracture deposit localities A-D, fossils in fracture deposit D slightly earlier than other three localities. Therefore, they might contain deposits of different ages from Eocene. A certain quantity of fossil mammals related to southern continental mammals are found in Eocene fracture deposits in Liyang, Jiangsu. They include Marsupials, Notoungulata and Primates. Among them primates are more striking, showing a complex biogeographic affinity. Of the primates, Strepsirhini is similar to the European type, while Anthropoidea bears much resemblance to its contemporaneous type on the African continent. This not only provides a valuable clue to probing into the origin, development and dispersal of early primates but also has great significance for the understanding of Tertiary zoogeography.

It is fissure-filling deposits.