Pelecanimimus

Schematic drawing of the skull of Pelecanimimus

• Spain

Pelecanimimus was a genus of dinosaur from the group of Ornithomimosauria within the Theropoda. He is considered one of the oldest and most primitive members of this group and has as its sole genus teeth in both jaws halves.

Features

Pelecanimimus reached an estimated length of 2 to 2.5 meters, making it one of the smallest representative of the Ornithomimosauria. He moved biped ( two-legged ) away, the hind legs were much longer than the front legs. The forelimbs were built great, but dainty. The head sat on a long neck and was remarkably elongated and narrow. In contrast to most other, more developed Ornithomimosauriern had these dinosaurs teeth: a total of 220 tiny teeth were sitting in the front part of his jaw - one of the highest numbers of all theropods. The teeth showed no serrations and had a constriction between the crown and root. The fossil, in which soft tissues are preserved, also shows a small ridge skin on the head and a small throat pouch, similar to the much larger of the pelicans.

What is Pelecanimimus nourished, is controversial. One theory is that he has eaten fish, another suggested that it has acted in the many small teeth to a precursor of the existing at higher Ornithomimosauriern filtering apparatus with which he has strained small organisms from the water.

Discovery and designation

The fossil remains of Pelecanimimus were in the formation Calizas de la Huergina discovered in the Spanish province of Cuenca and first described in 1994. The name ( " pelican mimic " ) is an allusion to the elongated snout and the throat pouch and is in the tradition of Ornithomimosauria that are often named after birds. Type species and only known species is P. polyodon, the specific epithet refers to the many teeth (Greek polys " much " and Odous "tooth" ). The finds are dated to the Early Cretaceous (late Barremian ) at an age of about 129-126 million years.

System

Pelecanimimus is the sister taxon of all other basalste representatives and Ornithomimosauria. He is the only species of this dinosaur group with teeth in the upper jaw - Shenzhousaurus and Harpymimus still had a few teeth in the lower jaw, all the others were toothless. He is also the only representative of this group found in Europe ( with the exception of an isolated femur from the Netherlands whose assignment is highly speculative), all others are from East Asia or western North America.