The segnosaurian dinosaurs: relics of the prosauropod–ornithischian transition?

Segnosaurus Perle, 1979, and Erlikosaurus Barsbold & Perle, 1980, are recently described dinosaurs of unusual form from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia. Both taxa are medium-sized herbivores with small skulls, beaks, spatulate teeth, retroverted pubes, and broad four-digit hindfeet. Barsbold and Perle consider them to be theropods. However, the feet of segnosaurs are much less derived than are the bird-like feet of theropods. Further, the...