Fossil of new dinosaur species classified in NE. China
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-04-24 09:09 Chinese archaeologists have
classified a new dinosaur species, and named it "Changchunsaurus" as it was
unearthed in Changchun, capital of Northeast China's Jilin Province.
The fossilized remains, excavated three years ago, belonged to the ornithopod
(having legs or feet like those of a bird) family. Its distinct skull shape
distinguished it from other known species, said Jin Liyong, curator of the
Museum of Jilin University.
The fossil is one-meter long with each eye socket measuring a third of its
115-millimeter wide skull, and a unique zygomatic process, or protrusion, of its
cheekbone.
The plant-eating dinosaur had five teeth on the front upper jaw. It walked on
its two slender rear legs and had short "arms".
Changchunsaurus combined features of earlier and later small ornithopods, and
is the first such dinosaur of the Cretaceous sediment, dating back 70 million
years, discovered in Northeast China's Songliao Basin, irrigated by the Songhua
and Liaohe rivers.
Jin said the fossil was significant in the study of the evolution of
ornithopods and the origins of Ceratopsians: plant-eating, four-legged dinosaurs
with beaks, and bony frills along the back of the skull. Changchunsaurus also
provided evidence for the study of the formation of vertebrate and ecological
environment in the Cretaceous period.
Chen Jun, a colleague of Jin's, said Changchunsaurus was one of the 400
fossils unearthed in Changchun and nearby areas in 2003.
Chen said the dinosaur was an adult, although small. It probably used its
skilful front legs to pull tree-leaves into its mouth, while it stood on its
back legs.
Among the 2003 findings were also fossils of theropods, or "beast-feet"
dinosaurs, dinosaur eggs, mammals and crocodiles.
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