A new species of ichthyosauriform is recognized based on 20 specimens, including nearly complete skeletons, and named Chaohusaurus brevifemoralis. A part of the specimens was previously identified as Chaohusaurus chaoxianensis and is herein reassigned to the new species. The new species differs from existing species of Chaohusaurus in a suite of features, such as the bifurcation of the caudal peak neural spine and a short femur relative to trunk length. The specimens include both complete and partially disarticulated skulls, allowing rigorous scrutiny of cranial sutures. For example, the squamosal does not participate in the margin of the upper temporal fenestra despite previous interpretations. Also, the frontal unequivocally forms a part of the anterior margin of the upper temporal fenestra, forming the most medial part of the anterior terrace. The skull of the holotype largely retains three-dimensionality with the scleral rings approximately in situ, revealing that the eyeball was uncovered in two different directions, that is, laterally and slightly dorsally through the main part of the orbit, and dorsally through the medial extension of the orbit into the skull roof. This skull construction is likely a basal feature of Ichthyosauromorpha. Phylogenetic analyses place the new species as a sister taxon of Chaohusaurus chaoxianensis.

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Visual attention in tranquility evaluations has been examined by eye tracking experiments using audiovisual materials collected in traditional villages of China. The results show that without sound stimuli, the attention areas in tranquility evaluations are more concentrated, compared with those in visual aesthetic quality evaluations. With sound stimuli, the attention areas of tranquility evaluations disperse significantly from those without sound stimuli, where artificial sounds tend to expand the visual attention area on corresponding artificial landscape elements, whereas natural sounds promote larger attention areas on natural landscape elements. During information extraction for tranquility evaluations, both with and without sound stimuli, buildings and facilities, the sky, and vegetation are attractive landscape elements.

Marine tetrapods quickly diversified and were established as marine top predators after the end-Permian Mass extinction (EPME). Ichthyosaurs were the forerunner of this rapid radiation but the main drivers of the diversification are poorly understood. Cartorhynchus lenticarpus is a basal ichthyosauriform with the least degree of aquatic adaptation, holding a key to identifying such a driver. The unique specimen appeared edentulous based on what was exposed but a CT scanning revealed that the species indeed had rounded teeth that are nearly perpendicular to the jaw rami, and thus completely concealed in lateral view. There are three dental rows per jaw ramus, and the root lacks infoldings of the dentine typical of ichthyopterygians. The well-developed and worn molariform dentition with three tooth rows supports the previous inference that the specimen is not of a juvenile. the premaxilla and the corresponding part of the dentary are edentulous. Molariform dentition evolved three to five times independently within Ichthyosauriformes in the Early and Middle Triassic. Convergent exploitation of hard-shelled invertebrates by different subclades of ichthyosauriforms likely fueled the rapid taxonomic diversification of the group after EPME. Many components of the modern ecosystem emerged in the Triassic, after the EPME. One of them is marine tetrapods, air-breathing vertebrates that invaded the sea from land, such as marine mammals and reptiles 1. Marine colonization by tetrapods occurred at least 69 times in the past, 27 of which were in the Mesozoic 2. A high concentration of such colonization events is found soon after the EPME in the Early to Middle Triassic, when multiple lineages of marine tetrapods entered marine environments and radiated quickly to achieve high taxonomic and ecological diversity 3. Some of these lineages gave rise to the iconic marine reptiles of the Jurassic and Cretaceous, such as ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs, that occupied niches similar to those of cetaceans and pinnipeds in the modern sea 4. However, it is still unclear what may have fueled this rapid early diversification. Ichthyosaurs are a group of marine reptiles noted for the evolution of fish-shaped body profiles 5. Typical fish-shaped ichthyosaurs form the clade Parvipelvia, a subclade within Ichthyosauria, which in turn is a part of Ichthyopterygia 6 (Fig. 1). The sister group of ichthyopterygians has been ambiguous but it is now likely that Nasorostra, a recently discovered clade of marine reptiles, is sister to Ichthyopterygia, together belonging to a lineage called Ichthyosauriformes 7. Cartorhynchus lenticarpus was the first nasorostran to be discovered, followed by Sclerocormus parviceps 7,8. Nasorostra are the only ichthyosauriforms to have a combination of features that are expected in the earliest members of the clade soon after marine invasion, such as the abbreviated snout, short body trunk, and pachyostotic ribs. However, Nasorostra have been known only for four years based on two specimens, so our knowledge of the group ...

The present study analyses the effects of soundscape on rural landscape evaluations, 8including landscape visual aesthetic quality (VAQ), landscape tranquility and landscape 9preference, based on audiovisual information collected in typical rural villages using the methods 10 of an audiovisual experiment and eye-tracking test. First, the results showed the landscape 11 evaluations influenced by different soundscapes are significantly different. Generally, the 12 evaluation scores with natural or musical sounds were higher, and for positive landscapes, the 13 difference among different sounds is greater than that for negative landscapes. Moreover, the 14 landscape evaluations could be enhanced by sound stimuli, including natural or artificial 15 soundscapes and for both positive and negative landscapes. Third, soundscapes can also 16 modulate the effects of landscape elements on landscape evaluations. No-vegetation ground, 17vegetation, mountains, the sky, and water were found to be significant landscape elements that 18influence landscape evaluations with sound stimuli, and in particular, the landscape evaluations 19 could be substantially decreased by particular disturbing elements together with artificial sounds. 20