The end Triassic is an important interval in the evolution of terrestrial ecosystems with a major shift from "archaic" faunas and floras to those with a distinct modern aspect. To date the terrestrial Triassic of Liaoning Province has received little attention and there have only been a handful of publications on its plant fossils. Earlier this year the PIs conducted substantial field work in the Yangcaogou Formation yielding some of the most complete and significant plant macrofossils known from the Triassic. Spectacular specimens of ferns, cycadophytes and sphenophytes are providing completely new insights into their growth habits. At the end of the field season the PIs discovered a layer with abundant remains of unequivocal Umkomasia - the female reproductive axis of corystosperms. Corystosperms are almost exclusively confined to Gondwana and this is the first record in Asia. Perhaps just as significantly the new locality offers an excellent opportunity to collect articulated remains of corystosperms. It is therefore vital that this new locality is subjected to intensive excavation. There is, however, some degree of urgency to this work as the local farmers have been illegally collecting from the area, selling the fossils to dealers. Indeed they have already dug through part of the main Umkomasia-producing beds to reach larger specimens of sphenophytes which they have then crudely cut out of the rock. The proposed work will include a large excavation of the Umkomasia beds. All collected material will be shipped to the US for preparation and study. Undergraduate and graduate students will be involved in this work at the University of South Alabama, and an exhibit featuring the material will be developed at the Virginia Museum of Natural History in conjunction with the National Geological Museum of China (GMC) in Beijing. Eventually all collected material will be housed at GMC.
