CHANGCHUN: Chinese archaeologists have classified a new dinosaur species and named it "Changchunsaurus" as it was unearthed in Changchun, capital of China's Jilin Province.

The fossilised 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-metre long with each eye socket measuring a third of its 115-mm 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. 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. — Xinhua

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail