Pelecanimimus

Pelecanimimus
	Pelecanimimus polyodon in size comparison
Temporal occurrence
	Lower Cretaceous (late Barremian )
	129.4 to 126.3 million years
Locations
	Spain;
Systematics
	Dinosaur (dinosauria)
	Lizard dinosaur (Saurischia)
	Theropoda
	Coelurosauria
	Ornithomimosauria
	Pelecanimimus
Scientific name
	Pelecanimimus
	Perez-Moreno , 1994

Pelecanimimus is a genus of theropod dinosaur in the ornithomimosauria group from the Lower Cretaceous of Spain. He is considered to be one of the oldest and most primeval representatives of this theropod group and was the only genus to have teeth in both the upper and lower jaw.

features

Head of Pelecanimimus polyodon as a plastic reconstruction of life

Pelecanimimus probably reached a total length of 2 to 2.5 meters and was thus one of the smallest representatives of the ornithomimosauria. He moved biped (on two legs), the hind legs were significantly longer than the front legs. The forelimbs were large but delicately built. The head sat on a long neck and was noticeably elongated and narrow. In contrast to most other, more highly developed ornithomimosaurs, this dinosaur still had teeth: a total of 220 tiny teeth sat in the front part of its jaws - one of the highest numbers of any theropoda. The teeth showed no serration and had a narrowing between the crown and the root. The fossil, which also has soft tissues, also shows a small ridge of skin on the head and a small throat pouch, similar to the much larger pelicans .

What pelecanimimus ate is controversial. One theory says that he ate fish, another suggests that the many small teeth were a precursor of the filtering apparatus found in higher ornithomimosaurs with which he sifted small organisms out of the water.

Discovery and naming

The fossil remains of Pelecanimimus were discovered in the Calizas de la Huergina formation in the Spanish province of Cuenca and first described in 1994 . The name "pelican imitator" refers to the elongated snout and the throat pouch and is in the tradition of the ornithomimosaurs, which are often named after birds. Type species and the only known species is P. polyodon , the additional species refers to the many teeth ( gr. Polys "much" and odous "tooth"). The finds are dated in the Lower Cretaceous (late Barremian ) to an age of around 129 to 126 million years.

Systematics

Live reconstructions of sub-Cretaceous biota from southern Europe with Goniopholis , Pelecanimimus and Concavenator (back) of the Spanish Museo Paleontológico de Castilla-La Mancha

Pelecanimimus is the most basic representative and sister taxon of all other ornithomimosauria. It is the only genus of this group of dinosaurs with teeth in the upper jaw - Shenzhousaurus and Harpymimus still had a few teeth in the lower jaw, all others were toothless. He is also the only representative of this group found in Europe (with the exception of an isolated thigh bone from the Netherlands, whose assignment is highly speculative), all others come from East Asia or western North America.

literature

Peter J. Makovicky , Yoshitsugu Kobayashi, Philip J. Currie : Ornithomimosauria. In: David B. Weishampel , Peter Dodson , Halszka Osmólska (eds.): The Dinosauria . 2nd edition. University of California Press, Berkeley CA et al. 2004, ISBN 0-520-24209-2 , pp. 137-150.

Web links

Commons : Pelecanimimus - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

^ Gregory S. Paul : The Princeton Field Guide To Dinosaurs. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ et al. 2010, ISBN 978-0-691-13720-9 , p. 111, online .

[paul_10-1] Gregory S. Paul : The Princeton Field Guide To Dinosaurs. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ et al. 2010, ISBN 978-0-691-13720-9 , p. 111, online .