SINORNITHOMIMUS
a plant-eating ornithomimid theropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of China.
Pronunciation: SIEN-or-NITH-o-MY-mus
Meaning: Chinese bird mimic
Author/s: Kobayashi and Lü (
2003)
Synonyms: None known
First Discovery: Inner Mongolia, China
Acta Ordinal: #535
Sinornithomimus dongi
(Dong's Chinese bird mimic)Etymology
Sinornithomimus is derived from the Latin "sinae" (of China, Chinese), and the Greek "ornithos" (bird) and "mimus" (mimic).
The
species epithet,
dongi, honours Professor Zhi-Ming Dong [1937-2024], who discovered its first skeletons and made great contributions to the Mongol Highland
International Dinosaur Project.
Discovery
The first remains of
Sinornithomimus were discovered in the Ulansuhai Formation at Alashanzuo Banner, not far from the tiny outpost of Suhongtu, Nei Mongol (Inner Mongolia), in the northern part of China. The site was originally discovered during a mapping survey by a former classmate of Tan Lin (a geologist and director of the Long Hao Institute for Stratigraphic Paleontology in Hohhot) in 1978, and the first fossils were found by Zhi-Ming Dong, who had been led there by Lin in the summer of 1997. They were and excavated by researchers from the Mongol Highland International Dinosaur Project (MHIDP) later that year. Unfortunately, the expedition ran out of time and materials, but they collected at least 14 individuals (eleven juveniles and three subadults to adults), plus more associated elements from a single bonebed.
The
holotype (IVPP-V11797-10) is a nearly complete subadult individual, missing the end of its tail.
In 2001, Lin led a 16-person crew composed of American, French, Chinese and Mongolian fossil hunters to the same site, and they recovered another 13 individuals (all juveniles and most only one-to-two years old) in what they dubbed a "dinosaur death trap".
Preparators
Kazumasa Kitade and Miwa Hirata.
Estimations
Timeline:
Era: Mesozoic
Epoch: Late Cretaceous
Stage: Santonian-Campanian
Age range: 85-75 mya
Stats:
Est. max. length: ?
Est. max. hip height: ?
Est. max. weight: 60 Kg
Diet: Herbivore
References
• Kobayashi Y, Lü J-C, Dong Z-M, Barsbold R, Azuma Y and Tomida Y (1999) "Herbivorous diet in an ornithomimid dinosaur".
Nature, 402: 480-481.
• Kobayashi, Y, Lü J-C, Azuma Y, Dong Z-M, and Barsbold R (2001) "Bonebed of a new gastrolith-bearing ornithomimid dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous Ulansuhai Formation of Nei Mongol Autonomous Region,
China".
Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 21 (Supplement to 3): 68-69.
• Kobayashi Y and Lü J-C (2003) "
A new ornithomimid dinosaur with gregarious habits from the Late Cretaceous of China".
Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 48(2): 235-259.
• Makovicky PJ, Kobayashi Y and Currie PJ (2004) "Ornithomimosauria". In Weishampel, Dodson, and Osmolska (eds.) "
The Dinosauria: Second Edition".
• Sereno PC (March 2011) "
Dinosaur Death Trap".
Scientific American, 304(3): 70-5.
• Varricchio DJ, Sereno PC, Xijin Z, Lin T, Wilson JA and Lyon GH (2008) "Mud-Trapped Herd Captures Evidence of Distinctive Dinosaur Sociality".
Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, 53(4): 567–578. DOI: 10.4202/app.2008.0402.
• Yan N, Ma M, Liu Z, Pei R and Wang S (2026) "Growth dynamics of
Sinornithomimus dongi (Theropoda, Ornithomimosauria)".
Cretaceous Research: 106517. DOI: 10.1016/j.cretres.2026.106517.
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To cite this page:
Atkinson, L.
"
SINORNITHOMIMUS :: from DinoChecker's dinosaur archive".
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