The fossilized remains, excavated three years ago, belonged to the ornithopod (having legs or feet like those of a bird) family. Its distinct skull shape distinguished it from other known species, said Jin Liyong, curator of the Museum of Jilin University.

The fossil is one-meter long with each eye socket measuring a third of its 115-millimeter wide skull, and a unique zygomatic process, or protrusion, of its cheekbone.

The plant-eating dinosaur had five teeth on the front upper jaw. It walked on its two slender rear legs and had short "arms".

Changchunsaurus combined features of earlier and later small ornithopods, and is the first such dinosaur of the Cretaceous sediment, dating back 70 million years, discovered in Northeast China's Songliao Basin, irrigated by the Songhua and Liaohe rivers.

Jin said the fossil was significant in the study of the evolution of ornithopods and the origins of Ceratopsians: plant-eating, four-legged dinosaurs with beaks, and bony frills along the back of the skull. Changchunsaurus also provided evidence for the study of the formation of vertebrate and ecological environment in the Cretaceous period.

Chen Jun, a colleague of Jin's, said Changchunsaurus was one of the 400 fossils unearthed in Changchun and nearby areas in 2003.

Chen said the dinosaur was an adult, although small. It probably used its skilful front legs to pull tree-leaves into its mouth, while it stood on its back legs.

Among the 2003 findings were also fossils of theropods, or "beast-feet" dinosaurs, dinosaur eggs, mammals and crocodiles.