page_title: Harpymimus
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Harpymimus / Description
caption_attribution_description: Harpymimus restoration, • Based proportionally on a skeletal reconstruction by Jamie Headden. • Three specimens of Ornithomimus preserve evidence of feathers, including evidence of pennaceous feathers on the arms. &#91;1&#93; This image goes under the assumption that Harpymimus were also covered in feathers. • This image is not meant to imply egg snatching behaviour. • The colours and/or patterns, as with nearly all reconstructions of prehistoric creatures, are speculative. Note: I often update my images; If you want to post this image on other websites, if possible, please link to the original file here. This will allow others to see the most recent version. Thanks. References ↑ &#32;(2012).&#32;"Feathered Non-Avian Dinosaurs from North America Provide Insight into Wing Origins". Science&#32;338&#32;(6106): 510. DOI:10.1126/science.1225376.
context_page_description: Harpymimus is a basal ornithomimosaurian theropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous Period of what is now Mongolia. Unlike later, more derived ornithomimosaurs, Harpymimus still possessed teeth, although they appear to have been restricted to the dentary of the lower jaw.
context_section_description: Harpymimus was for the first time extensively described in a dissertation by Yoshitsugu Kobayashi in 2004. In a 2005 article, Kobayashi and Barsbold diagnosed Harpymimus based on a number of anatomical characteristics, including eleven teeth in the front of the lower jaw (dentary), the transition between anterior and posterior tail vertebrae taking place at the eighteenth caudal, a triangular-shaped depression above the dorsal surface of a ridge on the shoulder blade (scapula) above the shoulder joint, a low ridge above a distinctive depression along back edge of the shoulder blade, and a small but deep collateral ligament fossa on the lateral condyle of metacarpal III (a hand bone).
  The skull of the type specimen of Harpymimus is virtually complete, but badly crushed, obscuring some anatomical detail. There is evidence of a beak covering the upper jaw which, in concert with the dentary teeth, was likely employed for grasping and holding food. Its general appearance was much like that of later ornithomimosaurs (long-necked, long arms with sharp grasping claws, and long legs). The teeth of Harpymimus differ from those of another basal ornithomimosaur, Pelecanimimus polyodon, in that they are restricted to the dentary, are cylindrical and separated by interdental plates, and number at least ten and perhaps eleven per side. Pelecanimimus possessed per side seventy-five dentary teeth in the lower jaw, as well as an additional thirty-seven teeth in the upper jaw (maxilla and premaxilla). The small teeth of Harpymimus were probably used only for grabbing and holding food items, unlike those of many other theropods, which were adapted to cutting or piercing prey. Of all the known ornithomimosaurs, only Harpymimus and Pelecanimimus retained teeth, a trait which is primitive (plesiomorphic) for the clade Ornithomimosauria. Other basal traits are the very short first metacarpal in the hand and a third metatarsal that, though pinched at the top, is at that point not excluded form the front surface of the metatarsus, so that the foot is not arctometatarsalian.
  The length of the skull is approximately 262 mm, more than twice its approximate height and less than half the length of the neck (approximately 600 mm).
caption: Restoration of H. okladnikovi by a nest
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