A new species of dinosaur named Duonychus tsogtbaatari has been discovered by scientists, and unlike other therizinosaurs, this species has only two clawed fingers instead of three.
A new species of dinosaur with strange claws has been unearthed in Mongolia by paleontologists. This new genus and species is a therizinosaur, plant-eating, two-legged giants with long claws, and was discovered buried in the Gobi Desert, according to a new study published Tuesday (March 25) in the journal iScience . Unlike other therizinosaurs, which have three fingers on their hands equipped with long, sharp claws, this new species only has two fingers. This unique anatomy inspired its scientific name, named Duonychus tsogtbaatari, which is Greek for "two digits" and honors the Mongolian paleontologist Khishigjav Tsogtbaatar . "Many species of therizinosaurs have been discovered, and this group had pretty much been defined by their three-fingered hands sporting large claws," study co-author Darla Zelenitsky , a paleontologist at the University of Calgary in Canada, told Live Science in an email. "To find a specimen with only two fingers/claws was surprising as this was so out of the ordinary for this group of dinosaurs." Related: 166 million-year-old fossil found on Isle of Skye belongs to pony-size dinosaur from Jurassic Therizinosaurs are a group of dinosaurs that lived across what is now Asia and North America during the Late Cretaceous Period (100 million to 66 million years ago). Despite being part of the theropod group of dinosaurs — typically associated with carnivorous dinosaurs like Tyrannosaurus rex — therizinosaurs were herbivorous. These dinosaurs are known for their enormous, sickle-shaped claws, with some species growing talons as long as 20 inches (50 centimeters). All other therizinosaurs that have previously been discovered, including Therizinosaurus and Beipiaosaurus, have three clawed fingers on their hands, making the discovery…