嬌小長春龍（Changchunsaurus parvus）是吉林大學(xué)地質(zhì)博物館專家于2005年自行研究命名的新屬、新種恐龍,。近年來,，隨著對該化石研究的不斷深入，取得了一系列的重要成果,。
最近以吉林大學(xué)地質(zhì)博物館館長金利勇研究員為首的課題組（第一作者單位）與英國大不列顛自然歷史博物館,、德國洪堡基金會、比利時皇家科學(xué)院的專家合作在古脊椎動物學(xué)領(lǐng)域國際權(quán)威刊物《古脊椎動物學(xué)報》（Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology）（美國古脊椎動物學(xué)會主辦,，SCI收錄）上發(fā)表文章,，刊登了關(guān)于“長春龍”的最新研究成果。
研究認(rèn)為,，長春龍是鳥臀類恐龍中角足龍亞目（Cerapoda）的基礎(chǔ)類型代表，它的發(fā)現(xiàn)為解決鳥臀類恐龍系統(tǒng)發(fā)育研究中最有爭議的問題之一——角足龍類的起源提供了重要材料,。通過對長春龍頭部特征的詳細(xì)研究,，對比目前所發(fā)現(xiàn)的其他基礎(chǔ)角足龍類材料，重新分析了角足龍類的三個演化分支（鳥腳下目,、腫頭龍下目與角龍下目）之間的關(guān)系,，為今后基礎(chǔ)角足龍類的系統(tǒng)關(guān)系研究奠定了基礎(chǔ)。通過研究還發(fā)現(xiàn),，長春龍與中國早白堊世的另一類角足龍類“熱河龍”有許多相似之處,，它們很可能是姐妹類群，代表了東亞地區(qū)早期角足龍類的發(fā)展方向,。(生物谷Bioon.com)
生物谷推薦原文出處：
Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology DOI: 10.1080/02724630903412372
Cranial anatomy of the small ornithischian dinosaur Changchunsaurus parvus from the Quantou Formation (Cretaceous: Aptian-Cenomanian) of Jilin Province, northeastern China
Jin Liyong a; Chen Jun ab; Zan Shuqin c; Richard J. Butler de;Pascal Godefroit f
a Jilin University Geological Museum, Changchun, Jilin Province, People's Republic of China
b Key Laboratory of Evolution of Past Life and Environment, Northeast Asia under Ministry of Education, People's Republic of China
c The Geological Museum of China, Xisi, Beijing, People's Republic of China
d Department of Palaeontology, The Natural History Museum, London, United Kingdom
e Bayerische Staatssammlung fr Palontologie und Geologie, Munich, Germany
f Department of Palaeontology, Institut royal des Sciences naturelles de Belgique, Belgium, Pascal
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.
