dinochecker
Welcome to our FAQ page...
Archived dinosaurs: 991
fb twit g+ feed
Dinosaurs from A to Z
Click a letter to view...
A B C D E F G
H I J K L M N
O P Q R S T U
V W X Y Z ?

What is Therizinosauria?

Pronunciation: ther-ih-ZEEN-oh-SOR-ee-uh
Author: Russell
Year: 1997
Meaning: Scythe lizards (see etymology)
Locomotion: Bipedal (2 legs)
Synonyms: Segnosauria (Barsbold, 1980)
Segnosaurischia (Dong, 1987)
[Zanno et al. 2009]Definition
The most inclusive clade containing Therizinosaurus cheloniformis but not Tyrannosaurus rex, Ornithomimus edmontonicus, Mononykus olecranus, Oviraptor philoceratops and Troodon formosus.
About
Therizinosaurs (members of Therizinosauria) are a strange-looking bunch who have caused nothing but headaches, from a classification viewpoint. They have a backward facing pubis like ornithischians, a long neck, small head, small teeth, and four-toed hind feet like non sauropod sauropodomorphs (prosauropods), huge hand claws suggestive of the primarily carnivorous branch of saurischian dinosaurs known as theropods, and have, unsurprisingly, been plonked in all three groups by various experts since their remains were first discovered over 60 years ago. They have some weird features all of their own too, like wide, flared out hips to support a huge pot belly, but the presence of a specialized half-moon shaped bone (the semi-lunate carpal), which affords the wrist increased mobility, betrays their true identity. Therizinosaurs are maniraptoran theropods, but maniraptorans with a difference; they were too fat to run and mostly hunted plants, which is why they're known informally as "sloth dinosaurs".
Etymology
Therizinosauria is derived from the Greek "therizo" (to reap or cut with a scythe), "sauros" (lizard), and "-ia" (neuter plural), named for a group of mostly herbivorous (or possibly omnivorous) dinosaurs with long, scythe-shaped hand claws.
Relationships
References
• Maleev EA (1954) "????? ???????????????? ???? ? ????????" [A new turtle-like reptile from Mongolia]. ??????? (3): 106-108. (English translation by Jaime A. Headden, 2003)
• Perle A (1979) "Segnosauridae: novoe semejstvo teropod iz pozdnego mela Mongolii" [Segnosauridae: a new family of Theropoda from the Lower Cretaceous of Mongolia]. Sovmestnaya Sovetsko–Mongol’skaya eskpeditsia, Trudy [Joint Soviet-Mongolian Expedition, Transactions]: 45-55. (English translation by Catherine Siskron and Samuel P. Welles / Polyglot.)
• Barsbold R and Perle A (1980) "Segnosauria, a new suborder of carnivorous dinosaurs". Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, 25(2): 190-192.
• Perle A (1981) "Novyy segnozavrid iz verkhnego mela Mongolii" [New Segnosauridae from the Upper Cretaceous of Mongolia]. In Barsbold, Vorobyeva, Luvsandanzan, Tatarinov, Trofimov, Reshetov and Shishkin (eds.) "Sovmestnaya Sovestsko-Mongol’skaya Paleontologicheskaya Ekspeditisiya, Trudy [Mongolian Vertebrate Fossils. Joint Soviet-Mongolian Expedition, Transactions]", 15: 50-59. (English translation by Catherine Siskron and Samuel P. Welles / Polyglot.)
• Barsbold R and Maryanska T (1990) "Saurischia Sedis Mutabilis: Segnosauria". Page 408-415 in Weishampel, Dodson and Osmolska (eds.) "The Dinosauria: First Edition".
• Zanno LE, Gillette DD, Albright LB and Titus AL (2009) "A new North American therizinosaurid and the role of herbivory in ‘predatory’ dinosaur evolution". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 276(1672): 3505-11. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2009.1029. [+Supp.]
• Zanno LE (2010) "A taxonomic and phylogenetic re-evaluation of Therizinosauria (Dinosauria: Maniraptora)". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, 8(4): 503-543. DOI: 10.1080/14772019.2010.488045
• Lautenschlager S (2014) "Morphological and functional diversity in therizinosaur claws and the implications for theropod claw evolution". Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 28(1785): 20140497. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2014.0497
• Lautenschlager S (2017) "Functional niche partitioning in Therizinosauria provides new insights into the evolution of theropod herbivory" Palaeontology, 60(3): 375?387. DOI: 10.1111/pala.12289
• Qin Z, Liao CC, Benton MJ and Rayfield EJ (2023) "Functional space analyses reveal the function and evolution of the most bizarre theropod manual unguals". Communications Biology, 6(181). DOI: 10.1038/s42003-023-04552-4.
Email            
Time stands still for no man, and research is ongoing. If you spot an error, or want to expand, edit or suggest an entry feel free to drop us a line. Go here to answer an FAQ.
© 2010-2024 Dinochecker unless stated | Rss feed | Kindly site donations here.
All dinos are GM free, and no herbivores were eaten during site construction!
To cite this page:
Atkinson, L. "DinoChecker FAQ entry :: What is Therizinosauria?"
http://www.dinochecker.com/dinosaurfaqs/what-is-therizinosauria›. Web access: 28th Mar 2024.
  top