Therizinosaurs (once called segnosaurs) were large herbivorous theropod dinosaurs whose fossils have been found across the Early to Late Cretaceous deposits in Asia and North America. Various features of the forelimbs, skull and pelvis unite these finds as both theropods and maniraptorans, close relatives to birds. The name of the representative genus, Therizinosaurus, is derived from the Greek (, 'to reap' or 'scythe') and (, 'lizard'). The older representative, Segnosaurus, is derived from the Latin ('slow') and the Greek . History of research Therizinosaurs were long considered an enigmatic group, whose mosaic of features resembling those of various different dinosaur groups, and scarcity of their fossils, led to controversy over their evolutionary relationships for decades after their initial discovery. The first genus, Therizinosaurus, was originally identified as a turtle when described from forelimb elements in 1954. Perle noted in 1979 that the Segnosaurus fossils were possibly representative of a new family of dinosaurs, which he tentatively classified as theropods (traditionally thought of as the "meat-eating" dinosaurs). He named the family Segnosauridae, with Segnosaurus as type genus and sole member. He distinguished Segnosauridae from the theropod families Deinocheiridae and Therizinosauridae (then only known from the genera Deinocheirus and Therizinosaurus, both mainly represented by large forelimbs found in Mongolia) by features of their humeri and hand claws. Later in 1979, Barsbold and Perle found the pelvic features of segnosaurids and dromaeosaurids so different from those of "true" theropods that they should be separated into three taxa of the same rank, possibly at the level of infraorder within Saurischia (one of the two main divisions of dinosaurs, the other being Ornithischia). In 1980, Barsbold and Perle named the new theropod infraorder Segnosauria, containing only Segnosauridae. In the same article, they named the new genus Erlikosaurus (known from a well-preserved skull and partial skeleton) which they tentatively considered a segnosaurid, and reported a partial pelvis of an undetermined segnosaurian, both from the same formation as Segnosaurus. Combined, the specimens provided relatively complete data on this group; they were united by their opisthopubic pelvis, slender mandible, and the toothless front of their jaws. Barsbold and Perle stated that though some of their features resembled those of ornithischians and sauropods, these similarities were superficial, and were distinct when examined in detail. While they were essentially different from other theropods (perhaps due to diverging from them relatively early), and therefore warranted a new infraorder, they did show