Confusingly, in 1981 Perle again named and described the species as if it were new, but this time in more detail and spelling the generic name as a Latinised "Erlicosaurus". It is today widely accepted by most authors that the original name, "Erlikosaurus", is valid. At the time of its discovery it was the only known therizinosaur (then called segnosaurs) for which a complete skull had been discovered, this helped shed light on a puzzling and poorly known group of dinosaurs. It still represents the most completely known therizinosaurian skull.