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Changmiania liaoningensis (from the Chinese; meaning: "changmian", meaning "eternal sleep") is a genus of small, basal ornithopoddinosaur that lived in what is now China during the Early Cretaceous period around 123 million years ago.[1][2][3][4][5][6]
The taxon is represented by two near-complete articulated skeletons: the holotype specimen, PMOL AD00114; and a referred specimen, PMOL LFV022.
Changmiania illustration. Credit: cisiopurple
These remains were discovered in the Barremian age, 123.2 million years old, Lujiatun Beds of the Yixian Formation by local farmers and partially prepared. They were acquired by the Paleontological Museum of Liaoning at Shenyang, which completed the preparation.[7][8]
Changmiania liaoningensis full skeleton/fossil cast
No indications were found that the fossils had been tampered with by fossil traders. The perfect life-like positions of these specimens suggest that they were buried alive, possibly in their own burrows.[9][10][11]
In 2020, the type speciesChangmiania liaoningensis was named and described by Yang Yuqing, Wu Wenhao, Paul-Emile Dieudonné and Pascal Godefroit. The generic name is derived from changmian, "eternal sleep" in Mandarin, referring to the possible sleep position the fossils were found in. The specific name refers to the provenance from Liaoning.[12][13]
Description[]
Changmiania pair. Credit: olmagon
The holotype specimen has a preserved length of 117 centimeters long. The describing authors established some distinguishing traits. Some of these were autapomorphies, unique derived characters. [14][15]
Illustration. Credit; a dinosaur a day
The frontal bones are elongated, over four times longer than wide. The parietals do not share a midline crest. The front branch of the squamosal bone is straight and elongated. On the upper rear corner of the squamosal a distinctive boss is present.[16]
The lower edge of the dentary is convex but the edge of the angular bone is strongly concave, resulting in a sinuous profile for the lower jaw as a whole. The neural spines of the sacral vertebrae are fused into a continuous elongated plate. Both the lower and upper end of the shoulder blade is asymmetrically expanded. [17]
