The species was named and described in 2007 by a group of researchers: Li Daqing, Peng Cuo, You Hailu, Matthew Lamanna, Jerrald Harris, Kenneth Lacovara and Zhang Jianping [2] . The generic name refers to Suzhou (the former name of a medieval administrative unit in the territory of the modern urban district of Jiuquan , where the fossil was found). The name of the species is given in honor of Megatherium - the genus of large sloths, referring to the large forelimbs, which distinguished both animals. The second component of the species name -ides means "similar."
The species was described on the basis of the holotype FRDC-GSJB-99, a partial skeleton found in 1999 in the Xinminpu geological formation of Gansu province (related to the barrem aptu [1] ). It consists of the right upper part of the forelimb, right scapula, ten vertebrae, ribs, part of the ilium and pubic bone, the skull is missing.
Gregory S. Paul in 2010 estimated the height of the dinosaur at 6 meters, weight 1.3 tons. It was a warm-blooded bipedal dinosaur with a wide body and a short tail, covered with primitive feathers, the hind limbs are quite small. It is likely that this species had a long neck with a small oblong skull, as in other representatives of the superfamily Therizinosauroidea . The forelimbs were quite large (about 1 meter long), ending in claws.
Suzhousaurus in the description was assigned to the basal members of the Therizinosauroidea superfamily, as a sister taxon of the genus Nothronychus from America, but quite far from the genus Falcarius , the closest genus to the common ancestor of the superfamily in the pedigree [2] . The close relationship between Suzhousaurus and Nothronychus is supported by analysis of the humerus.
Studies in 2013 by a group of scientists led by Pu showed that Suzhousaurus belongs to the family of therizinosaurids [3] .
