Erliansaurus bellamanus is a species of therizinosauroid theropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous, around 65-70 million years ago). It was a therizinosaurid theropod. Fossils of Erliansaurus were found in Mongolia. It existed during the Late Cretaceous (Santonian).
Gregory S Paul estimated the size of the thigh bone of Erilansaurus bellamanus to be around 412 cm long.[1]
Discovery[]
Skeletal restoration
A fossil of Erliansaurus was found near Sanhangobi in Inner-Mongolia. 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. The specific name is derived from Latin bellus, "beautiful", and manus, "hand", in reference to the exquisite preservation of the forelimb.[2]
The holotype, LH V0002, was uncovered in the Iren Dabasu Formation dating from the Santonian stage c 85 million years ago. It consists of a partial skeleton, lacking the skull, of a subadult individual. It includes five vertebrae of the neck, back and tail; a right scapula; a left forelimb lacking the carpus; parts of the pelvis; a right femur; both tibiae, a right fibula and elements of the metatarsus.
Description[]
Life restoration
The type specimen represents a subadult approximately 2.50 meters long. In 2010, Gregory S. Paul estimated the length of the adult at 4 meters, weight 400 kilograms. The thigh bone is 412 millimeters long. It had a small head at the end of a relatively short neck for a therizinosauroid, a large belly to provide space for the intestines needed to digest cellulose, and large hands with claws to tear leaves from trees. E. bellamanus is known for wonderful appendicular preservation, but very few known vertebrae. The middle neck vertebra is actually shorter than in Neimongosaurus , only 85% of the latter, an indication of a much shorter neck proportionally, since the rest of the dimensions are larger, the appendicular elements are 13 to 24% longer big.
The tibia was relatively long. His fibula was of an unusual shape, with a very high front edge and a concave top. Her hands had enormous claws, strongly curved and pointed, of which the thumb claw was the largest.
The type species, Erliansaurus bellamanus, was described by Xu, Zhang, Sereno, Zhao, Kuang, Han, and Tan in 2002, based on a partial skeleton of a subadult individual, the holotype, LH V0002 . The remains of Erliansaurus were found in the Iren Dabasu Formation, in China's Inner Mongolia, sharing the location with the thericinosaurian Neimongosaurus , but being distinct from each other. The genus name comes from a small Chinese town nearby. Erliansaurus is considered a link between the primitive Therizinosauria and the more advanced Therizinosauridae. It is hoped that future studies will serve to clarify the diversity of Therizinosauridae.
Phylogeny[]
Erliansaurus was by descriptors assigned to Therizinosauroidea, in a basal position and probably not a Therizinosauridae. However, some of the earliest cladistic analyzes have recovered it as a basal member of the Therizinosauridae. Zanno's cladistic analysis in 2010 has recovered it as Therizinosauroidea. While in the work of Pu et al. From 2013 it is presented as a member of Therizinosauridae in a comb alongside Nanshiungosaurus and Neimongosaurus more basal than the derived mAas clade that includes Therizinosaurus and its closest relatives.
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Appearance in other media[]
Jurassic Park[]
- It appears as part of the Jurassic World: Primal Ops game for mobile devices.
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