Chinese and German paleontologists announced on Sunday that they have discovered 17 fossil teeth of a new mammal genus that lived 160 million years ago in northwest China's Xinjiang region.

The fossil mammal teeth were found in 2003 in the Upper Jurassic strata (about 160 million years ago) in the Liuhuanggou area, west of Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang, by German and Chinese researchers.

Thomas Martin, a professor of paleontology of the University of Bonn in Germany, said:"It is the first time to discover the fossil new taxa of the docodont mammal in the world."

The fossil mammal named 'Dsungarodon zuoi', was smaller in size with a total length of the head and body of only five to seven centimeters, as compared with large modern mammals, the professor said at a geological and environmental change forum held in Urumqi on Sunday.

Scientists say the mini-size of the mammal was probably because that they lived in an area of gigantic dinosaurs and they had to run freely and reduce the living space as much as possible for survival.

The lower molar teeth of the mammal have a distinctive 'pseudotalonid' used to grind food, reflecting a special line of evolution for the Asian mammals, Martin said.

Research showed that the mammal's food included plants and insects, he said.

Sun Ge, a professor of China's Jilin University, said the discovery is valuable to the study of the evolution of early mammals and their distribution.

(Xinhua News Agency September 3, 2007)