Nanshiungosaurus

Graphical representation of characters Nanshiungosaurus

• Mongolia ( Asia)
• China ( Asia)

• Nanshiungosaurus brevispinus
• Nanshiungosaurus bohlini

Nanshiungosaurus was a theropod dinosaur that lived in present-day Mongolia before about 83-72 million years ago. This time corresponds to the geological levels within the Upper Cretaceous Campanian.

Description

From the genus Nanshiungosaurus two different types are previously known. The Mongolian type Nanshiungosaurus brevispinus was estimated to be about four feet long and could reach up to 1500 kg has a weight of about 700 kilograms. The second known species comes from present-day China and is called Nanshiungosaurus bohlini. Bohlini was significantly greater than brevispinus; about five to seven meters, it could be long. His weight was about one to two tons.

Both species were characterized by a rather small head, but from a considerably long neck. This was generally very unusual for a theropod, but typical of the Therizinosaurier. The arms of Nanshiungosaurus were equipped with very long and strong claws. The dinosaur was moving away biped ( two-legged ), he was possibly also feathered.

System

Originally Nanshiungosaurus the Segnosauridae family was the Titanosaurinae ( Dong, 1979), subsequently assigned ( Currie, 1992). 1997 shared Dong Nanshiungosaurus a family, the Nashiungosauridae to. Currently, he is regarded as a Therizinosauride ( Zanno et al., 2009).

Discovery and designation

In 1979, the Chinese paleontologist Dong Zhiming discovered brevispinus the Nanshiungosaurus. Dong named the newly discovered dinosaur after its reference in the Mongolia, Nanshiungosaurus in German means " reptile from Nanshing ". In 1997, he finally discovered his colleague Hai - Lu You, the second known Type: Nanshiungosaurus bohlini in southern China.