Nanshiungosaurus
Name:
Nanshiungosaurus
(Nanshiung lizard).
Phonetic: Nan-she-ung-o-sore-us.
Named By: Z. Dong - 1979.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Dinosauria,
Saurischia, Theropoda, Therizinosauridae.
Species: N. brevispinus
(type), N bohlini?
Diet: Herbivore.
Size: Roughly estimated to be about 5 meters
long.
Known locations: China - Chijinbao Formation,
Nanxiong Formation, Yuanpu Formation.
Time period: Barremian to the Campanian of the
Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Partial remains.
Nanshiungosaurus
was first described from partial remains mostly consisting of vertebrae
in 1979. To begin with Nanshiungosaurus was
thought to be a
titanosaurian sauropod
dinosaur, a bit later it was realised to be
a therizinosaur.
As a therizinosaur, Nanshiungosaurus was a
theropod dinosaur that had adapted to a herbivorous diet instead of a
carnivorous one.
A
second species, N. bohlini was described upon
the basis of slightly
larger vertebrae in 1997, however some researchers have questioned
this move upon the basis that there are no clear similarities between
these and fossils of N. brevispinus. Some have
even gone so far as
to suggest that the fossils of N. bohlini should
be described as a
distinct genus.
Further reading
- Cretaceous dinosaurs of Hunan, China. Mesozoic and Cenozoic Red
Beds of South China: Selected Papers from the Cretaceous-Tertiary
Workshop. - Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and
Paleoanthropology & Nanjing Institute of Paleontology
(eds.), Science Press, Nanxiong, China 342-350. - Z.
Dong - 1979.
- A new segnosaur from Mazongshan area, Gansu Province, China.
Sino-Japanese Silk Road Dinosaur Expedition. China Ocean Press,
Beijing 90-95. - Z. Dong & H. Yu - 1997.
- A taxonomic and phylogenetic re-evaluation of Therizinosauria
(Dinosauria: Maniraptora). - Journal of Systematic
Palaeontology 8 (4): 503–543. - Lindsay E. Zanno -
2010.
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