Hind limb muscle reconstruction in the incipiently opisthopubic large therizinosaur Nothronychus (Theropoda; Maniraptora).

Therizinosaurs are highly modified, probably herbivorous, theropods from the Upper Cretaceous of Asia and North America. They are characterized by an extensively pneumatized axial skeleton, and in the derived forms, an incipiently opisthopubic pelvis. The evolution of such a pelvis is expected to be associated with extensive modification of the muscular system. The muscular system is reconstructed using observed muscle scars, reconstructions of the theropods Staurikosaurus and Tyrannosaurus, the ornithischian Maiasaura, and extant crocodilians and birds. The results indicate convergence with birds and ornithischian dinosaurs, such that the retroverted pubis in some maniraptorans can be regarded as analogous with the postacetabular bar in ornithischians. Functional implications also make derived therizinosaurs, such as Nothronychus, in some respects convergent with birds as the pubis is retroverted, becoming fused with the ischium, a laterally flaring synsacrum, and an avian-like pes.