Neimongosaurus
Neimongosaurus was a small, plant-eating dinosaur with a very long neck and a short tail. It lived in what is now China and Kazakhstan during the Late Cretaceous period, about 85 to 72 million years ago.14
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Fun facts
Neimongosaurus had one of the longest necks of any non-bird theropod, with about 14 neck vertebrae. That is more than most other meat-eating dinosaurs had.1
Its tail was fairly short, with only 22 tail vertebrae, which is unusual for a theropod.1
The front of its lower jaw was toothless, like a beak, and it had only a few teeth further back. This helped it eat plants.1
Its arm bones show a large bump for the biceps muscle, which may have given it strong arms for pulling branches.1
The vertebrae in its spine were hollow and filled with air spaces, a feature also seen in some advanced bird-like dinosaurs.2
Scientists think Neimongosaurus was closely related to oviraptorosaurs because of its long neck and short tail.2
Most asked questions about Neimongosaurus
?How big was Neimongosaurus?
About 2 to 3 metres long. It weighed around 350 kg, which is about the weight of a small horse.1
?What did Neimongosaurus eat?
It ate plants. Its lower jaw had a toothless, beak-like front and only a few teeth with serrated edges in the back.1
?Did Neimongosaurus have feathers?
Scientists think it likely had feathers, because its relatives (therizinosaurs) are often shown with feathers, but no direct feather fossils have been found for this species.1
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For dino experts
- Scientific name
- Neimongosaurus
- Named by
- Zhang et al. 20014
- Group
- Odd feathered dinos
- Family / clade
- Therizinosauridae4
- Classification
- Theropoda > Therizinosauria4
- Age of the rocks
- 86 to 72 million years (Santonian / Campanian)4
- Rock formations
- Iren Dabasu, Bostobe4
- Countries
- China, Kazakhstan4
- Fossil records
- 2 in the Paleobiology Database4
- Discovery
- In 1999, a team from the Ministry of Land and Resources in Inner Mongolia found two skeletons at Sanhangobi, about 20 km southwest of Erenhot. In 2001, scientists named the new species Neimongosaurus yangi, honoring Chinese paleontologist Yang Zhongjian.1
- Still debated
- Scientists are not sure exactly where Neimongosaurus sits on the family tree. Some studies place it outside the therizinosaurid group, while others put it inside, close to Therizinosaurus.1
Where the facts come from
- Neimongosaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
- A LONG-NECKED THERIZINOSAUROID DINOSAUR FROM THE UPPER CRETACEOUS IREN DABASU FORMATION OF NEI MONGOL, PEOPL EāS REPUBLIC OF CHINA (vertpala.ac.cn)
- Neimongosaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
- Neimongosaurus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.
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