Erliansaurus
Erliansaurus | |
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Mounted skeleton cast | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Clade: | Dinosauria |
Clade: | Saurischia |
Clade: | Theropoda |
Superfamily: | † Therizinosauroidea
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Family: | †Therizinosauridae |
Genus: | †Erliansaurus Xu et al. 2002 |
Type species | |
†Erliansaurus bellamanus Xu et al. 2002
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Erliansaurus (meaning "Erlian lizard") is a
period in what is now Nei Mongol, Iren Dabasu Formation.Discovery and naming
The remains of Erliansaurus were found near Sanhangobi in Inner Mongolia in 1999. The type species, Erliansaurus bellamanus, was described by Xu Xing, Zhang Xiaohong, Paul Sereno, Zhao Xijin, Kuang Xuewen, Han Jun and Tan Lin in 2002. The generic name refers to the town of Erlian and the specific name is derived from Latin bellus, "beautiful", and manus, "hand", in reference to the exquisite preservation of the forelimb.[1]
The
Description
The holotype specimen represents a not fully-grown individual based on one unfused caudal vertebra, and therefore its adult size may be larger than the contemporary Neimongosaurus.[1] It was a small to medium-sized therizinosaur with an estimated length from 2.6 to 4 m (8.5 to 13.1 ft) and a weight of 91 to 400 kg (201 to 882 lb).[2][3]
Erliansaurus was a bipedal herbivore. For a therizinosauroid, its cervicals were rather short. The preserved femur was very straight and had a very rounded femoral head; it measures 41.2 cm (412 mm). The tibia was relatively elongated, measuring 37.3 cm (373 mm) long. Its fibula had an uncommon form, with a very high front edge and a concave top. The left arm is exceptionally preserved with almost every element intact, its hands bore enormous, strongly recurved and pointed claws of which the thumb claw was the largest, however, the carpal bones are missing.[1]
Classification
Erliansaurus was by the describers assigned to the
Therizinosauridae |
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See also
References
- ^ a b c d e Xu, X.; Zhang, Z.-H.; Sereno, P. C.; Zhao, X.-J.; Kuang, X.-W.; Han, J.; Tan, L. (2002). "A new therizinosauroid (Dinosauria, Theropoda) from the Upper Cretaceous Iren Dabasu Formation of Nei Mongol" (PDF). Vertebrata PalAsiatica. 40: 228–240.
- ISBN 9780691167664.
- S2CID 53405097.
- PMID 31333906.