SEGNOSAURIA

SEG-no-SAW-ree-a

Slow reptiles

Saurischia

Late Cratecous

Asia

The infraorder Segnosauria was named in 1980 for some strange new dinosaurs that had just been found in Mongolia. These were lightly built meat-eaters with curious skulls. The most unusual feature was the hip, which was not at all like a typical saurischian lizard hip: the two bones at the bottom both ran backward and side-by-side, instead of pointing in opposite directions.

Segnosaurus

SEG-no-SAW-rus

Slow reptile

Saurischia: Segnosauria

Late Cratecous

Southern Mongolia

Segnosaurus is known from a skull and partial skeleton. The skull has sharp teeth at the back for eating meat, but no teeth at the front of the jaw, which is very strange. Each foot had four toes, and the hip was quite unusual in shape. In Segnosaurus, the hip looks rather like that of an ornithischian dinosaur, rather than a saurischian. The primitive three-pointed lizard hip has become a two-pointed bird hip. However, in detail it is clear that Segnosaurus is still a saurischian dinosaur. The scientists who named Segnosaurus in 1979 suggested that it might have been a swimmer and that it fed on fish.