Zhen Xu's research while affiliated with Anhui University and other places

... Global cooling and drying events during this period (Qiu and Li 2005;Ge et al. 2013), as well as the isolation effects of Wuyi Mountain and Yangtze River, may have been critical in the divergence of U. huanggangensis, and Mount Huanggang may have provided a refuge for U. huanggangensis during the ice age. Recently, several new small mammal species have been described in eastern China, such as Chodsigoa dabieshanensis Chen et al., 2022, Crocidua dongyangjiangensis Liu et al., 2020, and Typhlomys huangshanensis Hu et al., 2021 indicating that biodiversity in the region is severely underexplored (Hu et al. 2021a;Chen et al. 2022). The description of U. huanggangensis in the Wuyi Mountains region highlights the overlooked biodiversity of the mountains of eastern China. ...

... One lineage includes U. investigator from western Yunnan and acts as the basal position of the genus; the second lineage includes U. aequodonenia, U. andersoni, and U. nivatus from Northern Yunnan and western Sichuan; and the third contains U. soricipes, U. gracilis, U. atronates. Additionally, Hu et al. (2021b) used multivariate analyses as well as phylogenetic analyses to describe a new species, U. dabieshanensis Hu et al., 2021, from the Dabie Mountains, Anhui Province, eastern China. The phylogenetic results indicate that the lineage of Uropsilus has two matrilines. ...

... Global cooling and drying events during this period (Qiu and Li 2005;Ge et al. 2013), as well as the isolation effects of Wuyi Mountain and Yangtze River, may have been critical in the divergence of U. huanggangensis, and Mount Huanggang may have provided a refuge for U. huanggangensis during the ice age. Recently, several new small mammal species have been described in eastern China, such as Chodsigoa dabieshanensis Chen et al., 2022, Crocidua dongyangjiangensis Liu et al., 2020, and Typhlomys huangshanensis Hu et al., 2021 indicating that biodiversity in the region is severely underexplored (Hu et al. 2021a;Chen et al. 2022). The description of U. huanggangensis in the Wuyi Mountains region highlights the overlooked biodiversity of the mountains of eastern China. ...