Outline: a typical theropod
Archaeornithomimus
AR-kee-or-NITH-oh-MY-mus
"ancient bird mimic"
- Lived
- 84 to 72 million years ago, Late Cretaceous
- Diet
- Omnivore
- Length
- about 3.5 m (11 ft)
- Group
- Theropods, Ornithomimidae
- Found in
- China
- Named by
- Russell 1972
Size comparison
To scale
Scale in metersOutline: typical theropod shape
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
80 million years ago
Field notes
About Archaeornithomimus
What it was like
Archaeornithomimus was an ostrich-like dinosaur about 3.5 meters (11 feet) long. It had long legs for running, long arms with clawed hands and a toothless beak. Like its relatives, it probably ate a mix of plants and small animals.
Its world
It lived in the Late Cretaceous in what is now China. Its bones come from the Iren Dabasu Formation, where it shared the land with the giant oviraptor Gigantoraptor, the tyrannosaur Alectrosaurus and the duckbill Bactrosaurus.
How it was found
It was first described as a species of Ornithomimus. Russell gave it its own genus in 1972. It is known from bones of several individuals, but no complete skeleton.
Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
Close relatives
Other members of Ornithomimidae
Sources: WikidataNamed in: D. A. Russell. 1972. Ostrich dinosaurs from the late Cretaceous of western Canada. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 9:375-402