Open Paleo

Changmiania

Yang et al., 2020 chahng-MYEN-ee-uh

From Chinese changmian (长眠, 'eternal sleep'), referring to the life-like buried positions of the specimens, which suggest they were buried alive while sleeping.

125.8–121.4 million years ago Barremian, Early Cretaceous
Early Cretaceous stages

Changmiania is a genus of basal ornithopod dinosaur that lived in what is now China during the Early Cretaceous. It contains a single species, Changmiania liaoningensis.

Diagnosis

  1. Rostrocaudally elongated frontals with maximum length to width ratio >4, distinctly narrower than in all other basal ornithopods
  2. Only six cervical vertebrae, reduced from the nine typical of basal ornithischians and ornithopods
  3. Neural spines of sacral vertebrae completely fused together, forming a craniocaudally-elongated continuous bar
  4. Fused scapulocoracoid with scapular blade asymmetrically expanded both ventrally and dorsally
  5. Paired ilia symmetrically inclined dorsomedially, partially covering the sacrum in dorsal view
  6. Proximal half of fibula as robust as the corresponding portion of the tibia

Species

Changmiania liaoningensis Yang et al., 2020

Type species

Named for the provenance of the fossils from Liaoning Province, China.

Holotype
PMOL AD00114 , Paleontological Museum of Liaoning
Material
Nearly complete articulated skeleton.
Horizon
Lujiatun Member, Yixian Formation, Barremian, Early Cretaceous , 125.8–121.4 million years ago
Locality
Lujiatun, Shangyuan, Beipiao City, Liaoning, China

Notable specimens

  • PMOL LFV022

    Paleontological Museum of Liaoning exceptional preservation

    Referred near-complete articulated skeleton from the Lujiatun Beds of the Yixian Formation, preserved in a perfect life-like position that suggests the animal was buried alive, possibly in its own burrow during a volcanic eruption.

    Yang et al. (2020)

References

  1. Yang, Y.; Wu, W.; Dieudonné, P. E.; Godefroit, P. (2020). A new basal ornithopod dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of China. PeerJ 8: e9832. PeerJ. doi:10.7717/peerj.9832 yang2020a
  2. Paul, G. S. (2024). The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs (3rd ed.). Princeton University Press.

    Source of the body length and mass estimates, and the appearance features.

    paul2024a
  3. Zhong, Y.; Huyskens, M. H.; Yin, Q. Z.; Wang, Y.; Ma, Q.; Xu, Y. G. (2021). High-precision geochronological constraints on the duration of 'Dinosaur Pompeii' and the Yixian Formation. National Science Review 8(6): nwab063. doi:10.1093/nsr/nwab063

    Dates the base of the Yixian Formation, the Lujiatun Unit that yielded the holotype, to 125.755 Ma: Barremian on the ICS chart v2024/12 at its central value; its error reaches the Hauterivian.

    zhong2021a
  4. Gale, A. S.; Mutterlose, J.; Batenburg, S.; Gradstein, F. M.; Agterberg, F. P.; Ogg, J. G.; Petrizzo, M. R. (2020). The Cretaceous Period. Geologic Time Scale 2020 (Gradstein, F. M.; Ogg, J. G.; Schmitz, M. D.; Ogg, G. M., eds) 1023-1086. Elsevier, Amsterdam. doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-824360-2.00027-9

    Gives the GTS2020 Barremian span, 126.5 to 121.4 Ma; the ICS chart v2024/12 starts the stage at 125.77 Ma.

    gale2020a