complete specimens and other taxa were described during the 1990s, which confirmed them as theropods. Many of the shared characters within the group also showed that Segnosauridae was a junior synonym of the much earlier family Therizinosauridae. The current phylogenetic consensus is that therizinosaurids evolved from small, bird-like maniraptorans, and thus they fall within the coelurosaurian clade called Maniraptora. Moreover, most of the traits of therizinosaurids (such as the ear structure) were inherited by smaller, agile, carnivorous ancestors. Extensive phylogenetic analyses have concluded that within Maniraptora, therizinosaurs were the first of five major groups to diverge. History of discovery The first definitive therizinosaurid discovered was Therizinosaurus. The fossil remains were discovered in 1918 during Mongolian field expedition on the Nemegt Formation of the Gobi Desert. Several claws were unearthed by the team and later described by the Soviet paleontologist Evgeny Maleev in 1954. The claws were unusually large, approximately long if restored, very straight and flattened. Maleev considered that the claws belonged to a giant marine turtle and named the new genus and species Therizinosaurus cheloniformis, also erecting the Therizinosauridae to include the new species. In the 1970s more findings were made including the naming of more taxa. Additional specimens of Therizinosaurus were referred by the Mongolian paleontologist Rinchen Barsbold in 1976. He described a set of partial arms from the Nemegt Formation and given the similarities within the claws, he referred this specimen to the genus. The Mongolian paleontologist Altangerel Perle described and named the new genus Segnosaurus in 1979, based on lower jaws and much of the hindlimbs. He also coined the newer Segnosauridae (now synonym of Therizinosauridae) to contain this species. In the same year, paleontologist Dong Zhiming described the genus Nanshiungosaurus, but wrongly interpreted the remains to have pertained to some kind of dwarf sauropod. In the following year, Barsbold and Perle coined the family Segnosauria (now Therizinosauria) to contain the Segnosauridae and kin. Also, they named and briefly described Erlikosaurus, a new genus smaller than Segnosaurus. Confusingly, Perle redescribed Erlikosaurus treating the taxon as a new genus and species in 1981. Also, Perle described another specimen of Therizinosaurus in 1982, this time a partial hind limb. He referred the hindlimb to the genus based on the similarities with Segnosaurus. In 2001, the new therizinosaurids Neimongosaurus and Nothronychus (N. mckinleyi) were described and named, and in the following year Erliansaurus was also described and named. Although