A new basal ornithopod dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of China

PeerJ

article

Yuqing Yang¹  Wenhao Wu⁴  Paul-Emile Dieudonné⁶  Pascal Godefroit⁷ 

[1] College of Resources and Civil Engineering, Northeastern University;College of Paleontology, Shenyang Normal University;Key Laboratory for Evolution of Past Life and Change of Environment, Province of Liaoning, Shenyang Normal University;Key Laboratory for Evolution of Past Life and Environment in Northeast Asia, Ministry of Education, Jilin University;Research Center of Paleontology and Stratigraphy, Jilin University;Instituto de Investigación en Paleobiología y Geología, CONICET, Universidad Nacional de Río Negro;Directorate ‘Earth and History of Life’, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences

关键词: Dinosauria;    Ornithopoda;    Lower Cretaceous;    Yixian formation;    Liaoning province;   

DOI  :  10.7717/peerj.9832

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Inra

【 摘 要 】

A new basal ornithopod dinosaur, based on two nearly complete articulated skeletons, is reported from the Lujiatun Beds (Yixian Fm, Lower Cretaceous) of western Liaoning Province (China). Some of the diagnostic features of Changmiania liaoningensis nov. gen., nov. sp. are tentatively interpreted as adaptations to a fossorial behavior, including: fused premaxillae; nasal laterally expanded, overhanging the maxilla; shortened neck formed by only six cervical vertebrae; neural spines of the sacral vertebrae completely fused together, forming a craniocaudally-elongated continuous bar; fused scapulocoracoid with prominent scapular spine; and paired ilia symmetrically inclined dorsomedially, partially covering the sacrum in dorsal view. A phylogenetic analysis places Changmiania liaoningensis as the most basal ornithopod dinosaur described so far. It is tentatively hypothesized that both Changmiania liaoningensis specimens were suddenly entrapped in a collapsed underground burrow while they were resting, which would explain their perfect lifelike postures and the complete absence of weathering and scavenging traces. However, further behavioural inference remains problematic, because those specimens lack extensive sedimentological and taphonomic data, as it is also the case for most specimens collected in the Lujiatun Beds so far.

【 授权许可】

CC BY