skull:头脑，头颅
About 2 million years ago, in lowland tropical forests of what is now China, lived an ancestor of the giant panda that was very similar to the famed vegetarian bear except about half the size, scientists said.
lowland:低地 tropical:热带的 famed:著名的 vegetarian:素食者, 食草动物
Writing on Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the scientists described a complete skull and teeth of a pygmy-sized panda, shedding light on the origins of this unique, bamboo-munching bear.
proceeding:学报 pygmy： 矮人, 侏儒 shed:流出, 发散 munch:用力咀嚼
The skull is about 60 percent of the size of a modern giant panda's and it has similar anatomical features, suggesting a similar lifestyle, they said.
anatomical:解剖的, 解剖学的
The extinct bear, named Ailuropoda microta, is the earliest known member of the panda lineage, said Russell Ciochon, a University of Iowa anthropologist and one of the researchers.
lineage:血统 anthropologist:人类学家
