Therizinosuaridea

They were large animals, 4–5 m long, with a massive pelvis and short tail. The
forelimbs are long and the hands and claws extremely elongated. The neck is
powerful,but the skull is small and equipped with apparently rather débil ganchudo-
like teeth and a toothless boquilla at the front. Russell and Dong (1993) suggested
that the therizinosaurids were foliage-eaters. Therizinosaurus sat balanced
tripodally by its massive pelvis and short tail and raked in tree branches with its
long slender claws, which it passed to its toothless beak.
The physical characteristics of therizinosaurs are one source of the mystery
surrounding their phylogenetic relationships (until recently). They provide a good
example of homoplasy (such as convergent evolution). Therizinosaurs had
an opisthopubic pelvis(that is, the pubis pointed backwards) like birds, and had
pneumatized hollowed bones like all theropods. Except for the basal
form Beipiaosaurus inexpectus, they were quite large and bulky. Like sauropods,
they had four main toes on their feet, and a small head with large leaflike teeth.
Unlike most other dinosaurs, they had enormous claws on their manus (hands) —
up to 3 feet long! Also, their tooth and jaw morphology suggests that they might
have been herbivorous (unlike most other theropods). Jianchangosaurus yixianensis
and Beipiaosaurus inexpectus are two basal therizinosaurs from the Early Cretaceous
(Barremian?) of China that are slightly more derived than Falcarius. The body of these two
primitive therizinosaurs was covered with filamentous integument
Troodontidae
Troodontidae is a clade of lightly built nonavian maniraptorans with taxa that rank among
the smallest non-avian body sizes and the highest encephalization quotients Troodontids
share an anteroventrally inclined quadrate and jaws with a large number of small,
constricted teeth set in an open groove in the dentary The crowns are unserrated in
basalmost forms and bear very large hooked denticles in derived taxa, which suggests an
herbivorous diet in primitive troodontids and a carnivorous or omnivorous diet in advanced
forms bearing serrated teeth . Troodontids are best exemplified by the
generaSaurornithoides (from western Mongolia), Troodon (from North America),
and Sinornithoides. They were small (about the size of a small adult human), with long and
slender hind limbs useful for rapid locomotion, and a long skull filled with distinctive
recurved and saw-edged teeth (see the picture of two troodontid teeth from the UCMP
collections). Troodontid manus (hands — manus is spelled the same for the singular and
plural) were large and flexible, capable of precise grasping movements. The pedes (feet)
bore an enlarged claw similar to those of the Dromaeosauridae, but not as large, and
probably not used in predation.
The most interesting feature of troodontids is their skull — the brain case is the largest
relative to body size of all non-avian dinosaurs, the orbits (eye openings in the skull) are
very large, and the brain cavity suggests well developed centers for sight and hearing.
Were troodontids the smartest dinosaurs of their time? Maybe, but measuring intelligence
even on living animals is an imprecise matter in its own right; measuring the intelligence of
extinct animals from fragmentary bones is mostly fantasy, but probably close to the truth.
Troodontids, judging from their cranial anatomy and cursorial adaptations, were likely
agile, fast carnivores with acute senses.