近日，以吉林大学地质博物馆馆长金利勇研究员为首的课题组（第一作者单位）与英国大不列颠自然历史博物馆、德国洪堡基金会、比利时皇家科学院的专家合作在古脊椎动物学领域国际权威刊物《古脊椎动物学报》（Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology）（美国古脊椎动物学会主办，SCI收录）上发表文章，刊登了关于“长春龙”的最新研究成果。
娇小长春龙（Changchunsaurus parvus）是吉林大学地质博物馆专家于2005年自行研究命名的新属、新种恐龙。近年来，随着对该化石研究的不断深入，取得了一系列的重要成果。
研究认为，长春龙是鸟臀类恐龙中角足龙亚目（Cerapoda）的基础类型代表，它的发现为解决鸟臀类恐龙系统发育研究中最有争议的问题之一――角足龙类的起源提供了重要材料。通过对长春龙头部特征的详细研究，对比目前所发现的其他基础角足龙类材料，重新分析了角足龙类的三个演化分支（鸟脚下目、肿头龙下目与角龙下目）之间的关系，为今后基础角足龙类的系统关系研究奠定了基础。通过研究还发现，长春龙与中国早白垩世的另一类角足龙类“热河龙”有许多相似之处，它们很可能是姐妹类群，代表了东亚地区早期角足龙类的发展方向。
Cranial anatomy of the small ornithischian dinosaur Changchunsaurus parvus from the Quantou Formation (Cretaceous: Aptian-Cenomanian) of Jilin Province, northeastern China
Authors: Jin Liyong; Chen Juna; Zan Shuqin; Richar J. Butlerd; Pascal Godefroit
DOI: 10.1080/02724630903412372
Published in: Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, Volume 30, Issue 1 January 2010 , pages 196 - 214
Abstract
The Quantou Formation of Jilin Province, People's Republic of China, has recently yielded an important new fauna of 'middle' Cretaceous vertebrates. This fauna includes the small-bodied cerapodan ornithischian dinosaur Changchunsaurus parvus, represented by excellent cranial and postcranial material. When initially described, Changchunsaurus was hypothesed to represent one of the most basal known ornithopods; however, similarities to ceratopsians were also noted, suggesting that Changchunsaurus may be crucial to elucidating the interrelationships of basal cerapodans, one of most problematic areas of ornithischian phylogeny. Here we present a detailed description of the craniodental anatomy of Changchunsaurus, rediagnose the taxon based upon three autapomorphies, and provide comparisons to other basal cerapodans, as a foundation for future studies of basal cerapodan relationships. Changchunsaurus shows strong similarities to the Chinese Early Cretaceous cerapodan Jeholosaurus, and it is likely that they are sister taxa.
