Dinosaurs / Cretaceous / Pelecanimimus
Pelecanimimus
Cretaceous pel-ih-KAN-ih-MY-mus, “pelican mimic”
Pelecanimimus is a remarkable primitive ornithomimosaur unearthed from the Early Cretaceous limestone beds of Las Hoyas in Cuenca, Spain. While Late Cretaceous ostrich dinosaurs were completely toothless, Pelecanimimus surprised palaeontologists by possessing approximately two hundred and twenty minuscule, tightly packed teeth along its elongated jaws. The exceptional preservation of the holotype slab also revealed soft tissue impressions, including a small occipital skin crest on the back of its skull and an elastic throat pouch similar to that of a modern pelican. Approximately two metres in length, it was an agile biped with extended forearms and slender claws. Its unique dental arrangement suggests it was an opportunistic carnivore or piscivore, trapping small fish, amphibians, and invertebrates in marshy freshwater environments, serving as a pivotal evolutionary link before ornithomimosaurs lost their teeth entirely.
It possessed roughly 220 tiny teeth, the highest tooth count of any known non-avian theropod.
Where and when
Pelecanimimus lived in the Early Cretaceous, from 126 to 122 million years ago (Barremian age). Its remains come from Spain, in the La Huérguina Formation.
The numbers
Length 2.3 m (estimates run from 2 to 2.5 m). Mass about 30 kg. Hip height about 0.8 m. That is 1.4 human-lengths, or 0.21 of a double-decker bus. These are estimates from partial skeleton; fields marked estimated by the site are length, mass, hip height.