Dinosaur Families Codexery

Ornithomimidae

Fast, ostrich-like theropods with toothless beaks and feathered hides.

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The theropod dinosaur family Ornithomimidae had an external appearance that was similar to that of modern ostriches.[1]

Scientific classification

  1. KingdomAnimalia
  2. PhylumChordata
  3. ClassReptilia
  4. CladeDinosauria
  5. CladeSaurischia
  6. CladeTheropoda
  7. Clade†Ornithomimosauria
  8. Family†Ornithomimidae

Named by Marsh, 1890

Sources: Wikipedia taxobox: Ornithomimidae (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Quick Facts

Type species
Ornithomimus velox

Facts from the source article.

Biology and range

An ornithomimid tail vertebra preserves tooth drag marks attributed to a dromaeosaurid, indicating they were preyed upon by other theropods.[2] One specimen shows a pathologic toe bone with a "mushroomed" far end.[2] Slender, elongated forelimbs ended in strong claws.[3] Powerful, lengthy hind legs featured a long foot and short, robust toes that ended in claws shaped like hooves.[3]

Feathers, not scales, covered the skin of ornithomimids, as was the case for many coelurosaurs.[3] Fossil evidence of ornithomimid neonates, which could be either embryos or hatchlings, has been discovered.[4] Plants were likely the main source of calories for ornithomimids.[5]

What the specialist sources record

GBIF Backbone Taxonomy accepts Ornithomimidae as a family within kingdom Animalia and phylum Chordata, and holds 1,395 occurrence records for this taxon as of 19 October 2026.[6] Norell et al. noted that ornithomimids were abundant in mesic environments and rarer in arid ones, suggesting possible dependence on waterborne food sources.[7] Barrett (2005) questioned the filter-feeding conclusion, noting that vertical ridges appear on beaks of strictly herbivorous turtles and the hadrosaurid Edmontosaurus.[8] Norell et al. observed that early ornithomimids possessed well-developed teeth, whereas later, more derived forms lacked teeth.[7]

Barrett's analysis led him to conclude that an omnivorous diet was the most probable for ornithomimids.[8]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Ornithomimidae" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Digs at Dinosaur Cove and Flat Rocks 1994", Excavation Report: Dinosaur Cove 1993-1994 & Inverloch 1994, 1994 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Ornithomimidae" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Jacobsen, A.R. 2001. Tooth-marked small theropod bone: An extremely rare trace. p. 58-63. In: Mesozoic Vertebrate Life. Ed.s Tanke, D. H., Carpenter, K., S; Molnar, R. E., 2001, Theropod paleopathology: a literature survey: In: Mesozoic Vertebrate Life, edited by Tanke, D. H., and Carpenter, K., Indiana University P (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Ornithomimidae" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Holtz, Thomas R. Jr. (2012) Dinosaurs: The Most Complete, Up-to-Date Encyclopedia for Dinosaur Lovers of All Ages, Winter 2011 Appendix. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Ornithomimidae" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Tanke, D.H. and Brett-Surman, M.K. 2001. Evidence of Hatchling and Nestling-Size Hadrosaurs (Reptilia:Ornithischia) from Dinosaur Provincial Park (Dinosaur Park (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Ornithomimidae" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Kobayashi, "Herbivorous diet in an ornithomimid dinosaur", Nature, December 1999, p. 480–481; Nicholls, "Structure and function of the pectoral girdle and forelimb of Struthiomimus altus (Theropoda: Ornithomimidae)", Palaeontology, 1985, p. 643–677 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. GBIF Backbone Taxonomy and occurrence index, Ornithomimidae (taxon key 4822888). CC BY 4.0 (backbone); counts are facts. gbif.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Ornithomimidae" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Norell, "The beaks of ostrich dinosaurs", Nature, 2001, p. 873–874 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Ornithomimidae" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Barrett, "The diet of ostrich dinosaurs (Theropoda: Ornithomimosauria)", Palaeontology, 2005, p. 347–358 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Ornithomimidae (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

Related entries

Ornithomimosauria

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Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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