Outline: a typical theropod
Pelecanimimus
"pelican mimic"
- Lived
- 126 to 121 million years ago, Early Cretaceous
- Diet
- Omnivore
- Length
- about 2.5 m (8 ft)
- Group
- Theropods
- Found in
- Spain
- Named by
- Pérez-Moreno et al. 1994
Size comparison
To scale
Scale in metersOutline: typical theropod shape
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
125 million years ago
Field notes
About Pelecanimimus
What it was like
Pelecanimimus was an early ornithomimosaur about 2.5 meters (8 feet) long. Unlike its toothless later relatives, it had many tiny teeth, more than any other known theropod. It also had a soft crest on its head and a pouch of skin under its throat.
Its world
It lived in the Early Cretaceous, in what is now Spain. The La Huérguina Formation it comes from was a wetland, shared with the humped predator Concavenator.
How it was found
Pérez-Moreno and colleagues named Pelecanimimus in 1994. Its one skeleton preserves traces of soft tissue, which is how its throat pouch is known.
Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
Close relatives
Other members of Ornithomimosauria
Sources: WikidataNamed in: B. P. Pérez-Moreno, J. L. Sanz, and A. D. Buscalioni, J. J. Moratalla, F. Ortega, D. Rasskin-Gutman. 1994. A unique multitoothed ornithomimosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of Spain. Nature 370:363-367