Suzhousaurus
| Suzhousaurus Temporal range: Early Cretaceous,
~ | |
|---|---|
| Mounted skeleton displayed in National Museum of Natural Science with elements from both specimens | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | Saurischia |
| Clade: | Theropoda |
| Clade: | †Therizinosauria |
| Superfamily: | †Therizinosauroidea |
| Genus: | †Suzhousaurus Li et al. 2007 |
| Type species | |
| †Suzhousaurus megatherioides Li et al. 2007
| |
Suzhousaurus (meaning "Suzhou lizard") is an extinct genus of large therizinosaurid dinosaurs from the Early Cretaceous of China. The genus is known from two specimens discovered in the Xiagou and Zhonggou Formations, both part of the Xinminbao Group. These findings were made during fieldwork in 1999 and 2004.
Though Suzhousaurus is known from these two specimens, an earlier named and described therizinosauroid from the adjacent basin, "Nanshiungosaurus" bohlini, may be synonymous with the former. However, Suzhousaurus can not be compared to this species due to non-overlapping material and the loss of the same. Moreover, this synonymy will result in Suzhousaurus bohlini with "N". bohlini having priority.
Suzhousaurus was an unusually large Early Cretaceous therizinosauroid reaching lengths of 6 m (20 ft) and nearly 3.1 t (3,100 kg) in weight. The upper arm (humerus) was very distinct from therizinosaurids, making Suzhousaurus to be considered a basal therizinosauroid. Unlike derived (advanced) therizinosaurids, the vertebral column was not highly pneumatized. However, the pelvis shows a marked therizinosaurid-like opisthopubic build. Like other therizinosauroids, Suzhousaurus had elongated claws and neck for browsing, robust hindlimbs and a large trunk that ended on a reduced tail.