A New Basal Ornithopod Dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of China
A new basal ornithopod dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of China Yuqing Yang1,2,3, Wenhao Wu4,5, Paul-Emile Dieudonné6 and Pascal Godefroit7 1 College of Resources and Civil Engineering, Northeastern University, Shenyang, Liaoning, China 2 College of Paleontology, Shenyang Normal University, Shenyang, Liaoning, China 3 Key Laboratory for Evolution of Past Life and Change of Environment, Province of Liaoning, Shenyang Normal University, Shenyang, Liaoning, China 4 Key Laboratory for Evolution of Past Life and Environment in Northeast Asia, Ministry of Education, Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin, China 5 Research Center of Paleontology and Stratigraphy, Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin, China 6 Instituto de Investigación en Paleobiología y Geología, CONICET, Universidad Nacional de Río Negro, Rio Negro, Argentina 7 Directorate ‘Earth and History of Life’, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Brussels, Belgium ABSTRACT 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
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