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 Uygur Autonomous Region.

The fossil mammal teeth, found in the Liuhuanggou area west of Urumqi  in 2003, have been dated  to the Upper Jurassic strata (about 160 million years ago).

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

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

Scientists say the mammal was most likely so small because it lived in an area of gigantic dinosaurs and needed to 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)