Fun Nanshiungosaurus Facts For Kids

The Nanshiungosaurus, also known as the Nanshiungosaurus brevispinus, is a genus and type species whose remains were found near the Dapingcun village at the Nanxiong Formation, Guangdong province in China, and is known to have inhabited the present-day Asia range. It existed in the Late Cretaceous age. The Nanxiong formation consisted of siltstone and mudstone. While not a lot of information is available about the Nanshiungosaurus environment and habitat, it has been noted that it used to live in terrestrial habitats. History states that it existed from 112.03 to 66 million years ago. Reproduction of this species took place sexually in which the male used to deposit sperm inside the female and the female then used to lay fertilized eggs that consisted of developing embryos.

The Nanshiungosaurus size was known to be large. It was about 2,000 lb (907 kg) in weight and 16 ft (488 cm) in length. It is thought to be a pot-bellied animal with stout hindlimbs and an overall strong build. Claws of the arms are curved and flattened. The study of the holotype Nanshiungosaurus skeleton showed that the skull of this theropod was small and had bluntly serrated teeth and a keratinous beak. This theropod also had a long neck. Many Nanshiungosaurus bones were found that included some cervical, sacral bones, and the first caudal vertebra, and the holotype was labeled as IVPP V4731. A Chinese paleontologist, Dong Zhiming, is credited for the description and naming of this theropod in 1974 and this paleontologist assigned it to the Titanosaurinae genus. Some related dinosaurs include the Erlikosaurus and the Segnosaurus. A potential other species was discovered in red beds of South China.

It is quite interesting to learn about this dinosaur and if you like, read about the Ichthyovenator and the Yinlong, too.

How do you pronounce 'Nanshiungosaurus'?

The pronunciation of this dinosaur is 'Nahn-shyung-oh-sore-us'.

What type of dinosaur was a Nanshiungosaurus?

The Nanshiungosaurus was a therizinosaurian theropod.

In which geological period did the Nanshiungosaurus roam the earth?

It belonged to the Late Cretaceous period.

When did the Nanshiungosaurus become Extinct?

The exact time of extinction of this dinosaur is not known.

Where did a Nanshiungosaurus live?

It is known to have lived in what presently is Asia. The fossil was discovered near the Dapingcun village at the Nanxiong Formation, Guangdong province in China.

What was a Nanshiungosaurus' habitat?

Little is known about the habitat of this therizinosaurid dinosaur and it is believed that it inhabited terrestrial habitats.

Who did a Nanshiungosaurus live with?

Not much is known about the social behavior of this dinosaur, that is, if it was solitary or used to live in groups.

How long did a Nanshiungosaurus live?

It is known to have existed from 112.03 to 66 million years ago.

How did they reproduce?

Reproduction of this therizinosaurid species took place just like other ones, that is, through sexual reproduction where the sperm is deposited inside the female's body and then fertilized eggs are laid by the female which has developing embryos.

What did a Nanshiungosaurus look like?

It is known to be a large-sized dinosaur. This dinosaur is considered to be a pot-bellied animal with hindlimbs that are stout and it had an overall strong build. Its arms had recurved claws that were flattened from side to side. The holotype specimen when studied indicated that the skull of this dinosaur was small with bluntly serrated teeth and also had a noticeable keratinous beak. The specimen also indicated that cervicals had short arches and the dorsal was known to have extended arches and thus, this dinosaur is known to have a quite long neck.

How many bones did a Nanshiungosaurus have?

The skeleton that was discovered had five dorsal vertebrae and 11 cervicals along with six sacral and some ribs. The cervicals had shorter arches than the dorsals.

How did they communicate?

Communication of these dinosaurs took place through various types of sounds and calls.

How big was a Nanshiungosaurus?

The estimated length of this therizinosaurid dinosaur is around 16 ft (488 cm).

How fast could a Nanshiungosaurus move?

The speed at which this dinosaur could move is not known.

How much did a Nanshiungosaurus weigh?

The weight of this dinosaur species is evaluated to be around 2,000 lb (907 kg).

What were the male and female names of the species?

This dinosaur species does not have any sex-specific names.

What would you call a baby Nanshiungosaurus?

A baby of this species, just like other baby dinosaurs, is referred to as a hatchling.

What did they eat?

The food of this species probably consisted of plants and leaves as the Nanshiungosaurus diet is noted to be herbivorous.

How aggressive were they?

It is quite difficult to determine the aggressiveness of this species but dinosaurs, in general, were considered to be instinctively aggressive and also violent.

Did you know...

At the time of an expedition led by the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology at the Nanxiong Basin, many fossilized remains were found of dinosaurs and near the Dapingcun village at Nanxiong formation, a large and fragmentary skeleton was found which dated to Late Cretaceous.

The holotype specimen that was found in the Nanxiong formation was labeled IVPP V4731. This consisted of 10 dorsal, 12 cervical, 6 sacral, and first caudal vertebrae; and almost a complete pelvis. The pelvis only lacked ischium and ilium.

The type species, namely, Nanshiungosaurus brevispinus, was discovered in 1974 in lower red beds of South China and described by a Chinese paleontologist Dong Zhiming in 1979.

Another species was found from the lower red beds of a completely different formation, that is, the Zhonggou formation in the Gongpoquan Basin in the South China range.

Only a single specimen was found which had most of the dorsal and cervical vertebrae along with the pelvis.

An assumed and highly unlikely species named Nanshiungosaurus bohlini was discovered in 1992 and its description was done in 1997 and is represented by vertebrae, but has a different geological age and some authentic features and characteristics are absent which makes its validity unsupported.

Like the Segnosaurus and the Therizinosaurus, this species is considered to be one of the earliest described and named therizinosaurs.

Dong Zhiming had initially analyzed fossil remains being of some dwarf sauropod because of the strange and different shape of the pelvis but the remains were later stated as a member of the genus Segnosaur.

Dong had assigned Nanshiungosaurus to the Titanosaurinae as it was thought that the specimen belonged to a sauropod.

Rinchen Barsbold and Teresa Marsyanka studied various similarities among the pelvis of a Nanshiungosaurus (IVPP V4731) and a Segnosaurus and thus, concluded that Nanshiungosaurus was a part of the Segnosauria.

This species was known to be one of the last therizinosaurs that existed.

The Nanshiungosaurus location or the formation from which fossil remains were discovered was known to have been deposited in a floodplain surrounding and was formed of purplish-colored siltstone and mudstone.

Battat terra Nanshiungosaurus dinosaur and prehistoric animal models are quite famous.

Some refer to these dinosaurs as tertiary dinosaurs found in the Nanxiong Formation.

How did the Nanshiungosaurus get its name?

The name of this species was given in reference to the Naxiong Formation, from where the fossil of this genus was discovered.

What is unique about the Nanshiungosaurus?

Fossil remains found had almost a complete skull of this species.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly dinosaur facts for everyone to discover! Learn more about some other creatures from our Caviramus facts and Ichthyovenator facts for kids.

You can even occupy yourself at home by coloring in one of our free printable Nanshiungosaurus coloring pages.