Gallimimus

Gallimimus is a genus of theropod dinosaur that lived in what is now Mongolia during the Late Cretaceous period. Several fossils in various stages of growth were discovered by Polish-Mongolian expeditions in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia during the 1960s; a large skeleton discovered in this region was made the holotype specimen of the new genus and species Gallimimus bullatus in 1972. The generic name means "chicken mimic", referring to the similarities between its neck vertebrae and those of the Galliformes. The specific name is derived from bulla, a golden capsule worn by Roman youth, in reference to a bulbous structure at the base of the skull of Gallimimus. At the time it was named, the fossils of Gallimimus represented the most complete and best preserved ornithomimid material yet discovered, and the genus remains one of the best known members of the group.

A picture published with the record for Gallimimus.

Fernando Losada Rodríguez · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
OrnithomimidaePBDB
Diet
herbivore, omnivorePBDB, for Ornithomimosauria
Life habit
ground dwelling, gregariousPBDB, for Ornithomimosauria
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Ornithomimosauria
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Ornithomimosauria
Length
6 mWikidata
Mass
440 kgWikidata

Time the record covers

At least 17 million years on record.

The record covers at least 89.8 Mya to 72.2 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 93.9 Mya to 66 Mya.

Late Cretaceous — about 30 of 30 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 0 of 30 occurrences94–93 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences93–93 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences93–92 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences92–91 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences91–90 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences84–83 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences83–82 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences82–81 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences81–80 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences80–79 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences79–78 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences78–77 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences77–76 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences76–75 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences75–74 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences74–73 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences73–72 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences72–71 Mya — about 4 occurrences71–70 Mya — about 4 occurrences70–69 Mya — about 4 occurrences69–68 Mya — about 4 occurrences68–67 Mya — about 4 occurrences67–66 Mya — about 4 occurrences66–65 Mya — about 2 occurrences89.8 Mya72.2 Mya94.5 Mya65.4 Mya

30 occurrences of Gallimimus on record, most of them in the Late Cretaceous. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

30 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

3 formations

Nemegt — 43.60°N, 100.46°ENemegt — 43.44°N, 100.37°ENemegt — 43.53°N, 101.04°ENemegt — 43.87°N, 100.01°ENemegt — 43.50°N, 101.05°ENemegt — 43.47°N, 99.83°ENemegt — 43.76°N, 99.90°ENemegt — 43.48°N, 100.36°ENemegt — 43.85°N, 100.14°ENemegt — 43.82°N, 99.98°EBaruungoyot — 43.57°N, 103.52°EBissekty — 42.12°N, 62.66°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Gallimimus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Gallimimus and its relatives

Late Cretaceous

Where Gallimimus and its relatives were recorded in the Late Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

59 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 29 sites for Gallimimus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

14 references

Each of the 30 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 2 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content3

Picture of Gallimimus

Credit
Fernando Losada Rodríguez
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Structured light scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Gallimimus bullatus · IGM:MAE:100/1133

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Credit
GHZ
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itOrnithomimidae through timeFormations of the Late CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Osmólska et al. 1972