''Ornithomimoides'' ("bird mimic-like") is a
dubious
Doubt is a mental state in which the mind remains suspended between two or more contradictory propositions, unable to be certain of any of them.
Doubt on an emotional level is indecision between belief and disbelief. It may involve uncertainty, ...
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
of
theropod
Theropoda (; ), whose members are known as theropods, is a dinosaur clade that is characterized by hollow bones and three toes and claws on each limb. Theropods are generally classed as a group of saurischian dinosaurs. They were ancestrally c ...
dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...
, from the
Late Cretaceous
The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''creta'', the ...
(
Maastrichtian
The Maastrichtian () is, in the ICS geologic timescale, the latest age (uppermost stage) of the Late Cretaceous Epoch or Upper Cretaceous Series, the Cretaceous Period or System, and of the Mesozoic Era or Erathem. It spanned the interval from ...
stage, sometime between 70 and 66 mya)
Lameta Formation
The Lameta Formation, also known as the Infratrappean Beds, is a sedimentary geological formation found in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, and Maharashtra, India, associated with the Deccan Traps. It is of Maastrichtian age (Late Cretaceous), and is nota ...
of
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
. Two species have been identified, the type species ''O. mobilis'' and ''O. barasimlensis'', were named by von Huene in 1932 and were described by Matley in 1933 though they are known only from isolated
vertebra
The spinal column, a defining synapomorphy shared by nearly all vertebrates,Hagfish are believed to have secondarily lost their spinal column is a moderately flexible series of vertebrae (singular vertebra), each constituting a characteristic ...
e. ''O. barasimlensis'' is known from five dorsal vertebrae, and ''O. mobilis'' from four smaller vertebrae, found at the same location. It is possible that, based on two reviews, published in 1999 and 2004 respectively, ''Ornithomimoides'' may have been an
abelisaur
Abelisauroidea is typically regarded as a Cretaceous group, though the earliest abelisauridae remains are known from the Middle Jurassic of Argentina (classified as the species Eoabelisaurus mefi) and possibly Madagascar (fragmentary remains o ...
, which may have measured between and in length.
[Novas, Agnolin and Bandyopadhyay. (2004). Cretaceous theropods from India: A review of specimens described by Huene and Matley (1933). ''Rev. Mus. Argentino Cienc. Nat.'', n.s. 6(1): 67-103.
]
See also
*
Timeline of ceratosaur research
This timeline of ceratosaur research is a chronological listing of events in the history of paleontology focused on the ceratosaurs, a group of relatively primitive, often horned, predatory theropod dinosaurs that became the apex predators of ...
References
Late Cretaceous dinosaurs
Dinosaurs of India and Madagascar
Ceratosaurs
Fossil taxa described in 1933
Taxa named by Friedrich von Huene
Taxa named by Charles Alfred Matley
Nomina dubia
{{Theropod-stub