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Tory Leadership Contest Exposes Split in Ruling UK Party - Expert_我的网站

A |     "The Tory party — members of parliament and party members — has realized that the petty squabbles between the candidates to replace Boris Johnson at the head of the party and hence as prime minister will severely damage the image of the party," he said.,There are five contenders in the race but only ex-chancellor Rishi Sunak has so far secured a place in the runoff. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss finished third in the last vote and is fighting second-placed Trade Minister Penny Mordaunt for a spot on a shortlist of two.,The televised debate on Sunday night saw the candidates trade blows repeatedly, challenging one another’s policies and launching personal attacks in an attempt to undermine rival bids — but all they did was undermine the party, Conservatives fear.,Another debate scheduled for Tuesday night was called off, host Sky News said, after Truss and Sunak confirmed they would not take part. The channel said Conservative lawmakers were worried about the damage the infighting was doing to the image of their party.,"The candidates have said horrible things to each other over the last weeks. Their nastiness against Boris [Johnson] is also badly appreciated in the Conservative party where Boris still has a lot of support among the rank and file," Cole said.,Second Live Tory Leadership Debate Cancelled After Sunak and Truss Pull Out13:26 GMT,Sunak and Truss are expected to make the cut in the third ballot on Monday evening, which will whittle down the field of candidates to four. Cole argued that Truss was the strongest contender owing to her image as a new Margaret Thatcher. Despite her weak showing in the previous two votes, Cole said she had the articulacy and the support of most lawmakers, in addition to being a staunch Brexiteer.,"As for Sunak, he is personally very rich, and it does not go down well among party members... Sunak is also perceived by many as one of the ‘traitors’ who brought about the demise of Boris Johnson. It does not help him get the top job," he suggested.。    

    Photo: Screenshot from peerj.com
Chinese scientists studying a 244-million-year-old ichthyosaur Mixosaurus fossil from Southwest China’s Guizhou Province found at least 11 embryos inside the specimen. The discovery sets a new record for the highest number of embryos found in ichthyosaur lineages and reveals that high reproductive capacity in ichthyosaurs emerged earlier than previously believed, chinanews.com reported on Wednesday. 
Ichthyosaur was among the most successful Mesozoic marine reptiles, and its reproductive strategy was considered crucial to their adaptation to ocean environments. Its reproductive ability before extinction has long intrigued paleontologists.
A joint research team from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), and the Zhejiang Museum of Natural History, has published the study on the ichthyosaur paleontology in the international journal PeerJ. 
According to Wang Wei, the paper’s corresponding author and an associate professor at the institute, embryo-preserving ichthyosaur fossils have been found across 11 genera from the Early Triassic to the Early Cretaceous. 
However, for ichthyosaur groups that diverged in the Early Triassic, embryo-bearing fossils known to scientists remain scarce, and knowledge about the number of offspring they carried is especially limited. Previous discoveries of pregnant specimens, such as Chaohusaurus and Mixosaurus, contained no more than three embryos, suggesting limited early reproductive capacity among early ichthyosaurs.
According to Gu Shengxiao, the paper’s first author and a researcher at the Zhejiang Museum of Natural History, the study examined an almost complete adult Mixosaurus panxianensis fossil from Guizhou’s Middle Triassic strata, dating back about 244 million years. The specimen measures 112 centimeters long, including a skull length of 22 centimeters, with only the tail tip missing. 
The researchers identified 11 fetal ichthyosaur skeletons with skulls inside the adult specimen’s abdomen, confirming they were embryos rather than cannibalized prey based on their position and morphology. There are also fossil pieces outside the belly of the adult, which could belong to the 11 or represent other embryos. 
All embryos in the Mixosaurus panxianensis fossil were at a similar late developmental stage, suggesting the mother died shortly before giving birth, according to the researchers.
The Mixosaurus panxianensis fossil containing at least 11 embryos sets a record for Triassic ichthyosaurs and all known ichthyosaur species. The researchers believe this indicates that Mixosaurus may have adopted a reproductive strategy of producing large numbers of offspring in a single birth. This exceptionally high reproductive capacity may have provided them with a survival advantage. 
Among Triassic ichthyosaurs and all known ichthyosaur groups, Mixosaurus is the genus with the largest number of fossil specimens and is also one of the most widely distributed ichthyosaurs. 
The researchers said the multi-embryo Mixosaurus panxianensis fossil may represent an extreme case, but it confirms the species’ ability to produce large numbers of offspring, potentially contributing to its dominance among contemporaneous marine reptiles. 
The study offers the first fossil evidence of high fertility in Triassic ichthyosaurs. Future research will examine other embryo-bearing Triassic ichthyosaurs to determine whether a multiple-offspring reproductive strategy was common in early ichthyosaur evolution and what factors drove this trait, Wang said. 
Global Times
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