Dinosaurs A to Z
Dinosauria

Erlikosaurus

"Erlik"

You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Erlikosaurus 3.4 m (11.2 ft) long
as long as 2 people standing fingertip to fingertip
Length
3.4 m (11.2 ft)
Period
Late Cretaceous (96–89 Mya)
Place
Asia · Mongolia
Food
Herbivore
Clade
Dinosauria The clade containing all dinosaurs, terrestrial archosaurs with upright limbs.
Erlikosaurus reconstruction by PaleoNeolitic
Reconstruction · PaleoNeolitic (CC-BY)

Erlikosaurus (meaning “Erlik’s lizard”) 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 Bayan Shireh 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.

In contrast to most therizinosaurids, Erlikosaurus was a small member reaching nearly 3.4 m in length and 150 – 250 kg in mass. It had a well-developed beak at the snout tip and toothed jaws that were used for its herbivorous diet.

What we know

  • Named by Barsbold & Perle, 1980.
  • Body length estimated at about 3.4 m.
  • Fossils found in Asia and Mongolia.

What we guess

The reconstruction notes for Erlikosaurus — soft tissue, color, behavior — haven't been written up yet. Only the recorded basics above are filled in so far.