Open Paleo

Erlikosaurus

Barsbold & Perle, 1980 ER-lik-o-SAWR-us

Named after Erlik, the god of the underworld in Turkic and Mongolian mythology, + Greek sauros (lizard): 'Erlik's lizard'.

93.9–83.6 million years ago Turonian–Santonian, Late Cretaceous
Late Cretaceous stages

Erlikosaurus is a genus of therizinosaurid that lived in Asia during the Late Cretaceous period. The fossils, a skull and some post-cranial fragments, were found in the Bayanshiree Formation of Mongolia in 1972, dating to around 96 and 89 million years ago. These remains were later described by Altangerel Perle and Rinchen Barsbold in 1980, naming the new genus and species Erlikosaurus andrewsi. It represents the second therizinosaur taxon from this formation (after Segnosaurus), with the most complete skull among members of this peculiar family of dinosaurs.

Diagnosis

  1. Antorbital fossa lateromedially expanded, containing three pneumatic pockets rostroventral to the maxillary fenestra, with a well-developed overhanging lip and a caudally placed, reduced maxillary fenestra
  2. Caudal process of the maxilla large and mediolaterally expanded
  3. Main body of the lacrimal transversely inflated and pneumatized
  4. Supraoccipital bearing a prominent nuchal crest
  5. Quadrate with an accessory third condyle and an obliquely oriented mandibular capitulum
  6. Dentary bearing 31 teeth
  7. Pedal unguals strongly compressed laterally (vs. thick and non-compressed in Segnosaurus)

Species

Erlikosaurus andrewsi Barsbold & Perle, 1980

Type species

Named for Roy Chapman Andrews, the American paleontologist who led the American Asiatic Expeditions to Central Asia from 1922 to 1930.

Holotype
IGM 100/111 , Paleontological Center, Mongolian Academy of Sciences
Material
Skull with mandible, disarticulated cervical vertebrae, left humerus, left and right pes.
Horizon
Bayanshiree Formation, Turonian–Santonian, Late Cretaceous , 93.9–83.6 million years ago
Locality
Baishin Tsav, Ömnögovi, Mongolia

References

  1. Barsbold, R.; Perle, A. (1980). Segnosauria, a new infraorder of carnivorous dinosaurs. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 25(2): 187-195. barsbold1980a
  2. Perle, A. (1981). New Segnosauridae from the Upper Cretaceous of Mongolia. Transactions of the Joint Soviet-Mongolian Paleontological Expedition 15: 50-59.

    Detailed original osteological description of the holotype of Erlikosaurus andrewsi (named "Erlicosaurus"); the 1980 Segnosauria paper provided the name.

    perle1981a
  3. Lautenschlager, S.; Witmer, L. M.; Perle, A.; Zanno, L. E.; Rayfield, E. J. (2014). Cranial anatomy of Erlikosaurus andrewsi (Dinosauria, Therizinosauria): new insights based on digital reconstruction. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 34(6): 1263-1291. doi:10.1080/02724634.2014.874529

    CT-based digital redescription of the holotype skull; provides the current emended diagnosis of Erlikosaurus andrewsi.

    lautenschlager2014a
  4. Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Theropods. Princeton University Press.

    Source of the hip height estimate, and the appearance features.

    jones2026c