Two paleontologists from UC Davis are among a group of experts advising government leaders in Luoping, China, on fossil conservation and the development of a geological park. The Luoping area is unique in preserving fossils of marine reptiles such as ichthyosaurs and plesiosaur ancestors, together with the fish, arthropods and plants that lived with them, said Ryosuke Motani, professor of geology at UC Davis. The fossils date from the Middle Triassic period, about 240 million years ago.