Dino card No. 1821 of 2,027

Tototlmimus

Say it: toh-toht-lee-MYE-mus

Name means: “bird mimic”1

Ate: PlantsOstrich dinosLate Cretaceous

Tototlmimus was a fast, ostrich-like dinosaur that lived in what is now Mexico. It had long legs and a beak, and it could run quickly to escape predators or chase after food.1

Lived

84 to 72 million years ago3

Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Sonora, Mexico1 2

Food

Plants3

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

cool stuff

Fun facts

Tototlmimus is the first ornithomimid dinosaur formally named from Mexico.1

Its fossils were found in the Packard Shale, which is about 72 million years old.1

Only parts of the hands and feet have been discovered, so scientists don't know its full size.2

The name Tototlmimus comes from the Nahuatl word 'tototl' meaning bird, and 'mimus' meaning mimic.1

Its foot bones show it had an arctometatarsus, a special structure that helped it run fast.1

Tototlmimus lived on the ancient continent of Laramidia, which is now western North America.2

AI-made picture of Tototlmimus — An AI-made picture of how Tototlmimus might have looked, made by a computer from what scientists know. It is a guess: the real animal may have looked different, and nobody knows its true colours.

you asked

Most asked questions about Tototlmimus

?How big was Tototlmimus?

Nobody knows for sure because only parts of its hands and feet have been found. It was a medium-sized ornithomimid, comparable in size to related dinosaurs like Gallimimus.1 2

?What did Tototlmimus eat?

It was probably an herbivore or omnivore, eating plants and maybe small animals. Like other ornithomimids, it had a beak and no teeth.3

?When did Tototlmimus live?

It lived about 72 million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous period.1 2

?Where was Tototlmimus found?

Its fossils were found in Sonora, northwestern Mexico, in the Packard Shale formation.1 2

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Tototlmimus
Named by: Serrano-Brañas et al. 20163
Group: Ostrich dinos
Family / clade: Ornithomimidae3
Classification: Theropoda > Ornithomimosauria3
Age of the rocks: 84 to 72 million years (Campanian)3
Rock formations: Packard Shale3
Countries: Mexico3
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database3
Discovery: Tototlmimus was named in 2016 by Claudia Inés Serrano-Brañas and her team. The fossils were found in Sonora, Mexico.1
Still debated: Scientists are not sure how big Tototlmimus was because only a few bones of its hands and feet have been found.2

Where the facts come from

Tototlmimus (en.wikipedia.org)
Paleo Profile: Mexico's “Bird Mimic” (nationalgeographic.com)
Tototlmimus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

Every fact on this page has a number that points to its source. If we got something wrong, sorry, we are dino fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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