A team of researchers has discovered a fossil of an ornithischian dinosaur in southwestern China, dating back approximately 190 million years to the Early Jurassic period. The discovery, published in the journal iScience, marks the earliest finding of its kind in Asia.
The team, comprising researchers from Yunnan University, the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Chongqing Planning and Natural Resources Bureau, found a highly primitive form of the ornithischian dinosaur in the fossil. Despite only one femur being preserved, its morphological features suggest it predates all other Asian ornithischian dinosaurs.
A study of the femur revealed that it belonged to a subadult individual whose growth had significantly slowed, indicating that it was nearing adulthood at the time of death. The estimated total body length of the dinosaur is around one meter, based on the specimen’s length of just 9.3 centimeters. This discovery provides significant insights into the origins and evolution of this group of dinosaurs in Asia.
Source: https://english.news.cn/20250113/c08de585969b4c0a93654807dc64ebb0/c.html