In August 1999, in the Eren Basin of Inner Mongolia, a new genus
of Therizinosaurus is discovered, named by experts as
Neimenggusaurus. Fossils of skull, cervical vertebra, sacral
vertebra, caudal vertebra, pubic bones, ischium, hipbones, paws and
teeth were excavated on the spot.
The newly unearthed Neimenggusaurus is a kind of
medium-to-small-sized omnivorous dinosaur living in 80 million
years ago. Being two meters long and less than one meter high, with
a long and narrow head, a super longneck, hooked paws, sharp teeth
and a long and thin tail, it is not completely the same as the
previously discovered Therizinosaurus. With no less than 14
cervical vertebras, it is a Therizinosaurus with the longest neck
ever known.
According to the fossils of Neimenggusaurus, experts inferred
that its actual neck is about 0.7 meter long. But the previously
unearthed Therizinosaurus all possess a feature of being
short-necked. The excavation of Inner Mongolia dinosaur supplied
new materials for dinosaur taxonomy and enriched the dinosaur
family of the Cretaceous Period as well.
