Neimongosaurus

Neimongosaurus (meaning "Nei Mongol lizard") is a genus of herbivorous therizinosaurian theropod dinosaur that lived in China during the Late Cretaceous period. Its fossils are known from the strata of the Iren Dabasu Formation. It is known from two specimens, discovered in 1999 by researchers from the Ministry of Land and Resources and described two years later. One species, N. yangi, is known, named after Chinese palaeontologist Yang Zhongjian.

==Discovery and naming== thumb|Right rostral dentary from the holotype of N. yangi|leftIn 1999, a team from the Ministry of Land and Resources, based in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, was conducting field work at Sanhangobi, southwest of Erenhot. The strata they were working in belonged to the Iren Dabasu Formation, which has been variably dated to the Turonian, the Santonian, or the Campanian–Maastrichtian. The first specimen, LH V0001, consisted of a partially preserved braincase; the front of the right lower jaw; a nearly complete axial column compromising 15 cervical (including the axis), 4 dorsal and 22 caudal vertebrae; a furcula; both scapulocoracoids; both humeri; left radius; fragmented ilia; both femora; both tibiae; left tarsals and a virtually complete and articulated left pes. The second, LH V0008, consisted of a sacrum composed by 6 sacral vertebrae and both ilia. Both specimens were transported to the Long Hao Institute of Geology and Palaeontology for study. In 2001, Zhang Xiaohong, Xu Xing, Paul Sereno, Kwang Xuewen and Tan Lin assigned them to a new genus and species of therizinosaurid dinosaur, Neimongosaurus yangi, designating LH V0001 as the holotype. The generic name is derived from Nei Mongol, the Chinese name for Inner Mongolia. The specific name honours Yang Zhongjian.