Aepyornithomimus

Aepyornithomimus (meaning "Aepyornis mimic") is a genus of ornithomimid theropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Djadochta Formation of Mongolia. It lived in the Campanian, around 75 million years ago, when the area is thought to have been a desert. The type and only species is A. tugrikinensis.

==History of discovery== thumb|left|MPC-D 100/130 being excavated The holotype specimen, MPC-D 100/130, was discovered in sediments at the Tögrögiin Shiree locality of the Djadokhta Formation, a locality that is interpreted to be composed of semi-arid eolian sediments with irregular, light gray and cross-bedded sands and sandstones, by Shigeru Suzuki during a joint Japanese (HMNS)—Mongolian (IPG) paleontological expedition to the Gobi Desert in 1994. The specimen consists of an almost complete articulated left pes preserved with partial astragalus, complete calcaneum, and the lower tarsal III; it is now housed at the Institute of Paleontology and Geology of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences. MPC-D 100/130 was formally described in 2017 by paleontologists Tsogtbaatar Chinzorig, Yoshitsugu Kobayashi, Khishigjav Tsogtbaatar, Philip J. Currie, Mahito Watabe and Rinchen Barsbold, giving name to the new ornithomimid taxon Aepyornithomimus tugrikinensis. The generic name, Aepyornithomimus, is derived from the large ratites Aepyornis and the Latin mimus (meaning mimic), in reference to the similar foot structure. Lastly, tugrikinensis refers to the locality of provenance, Tögrögiin Shiree. alt=Restoration drawing of Aepyornithomimus tugrikinensis. Illustration is drawn by Mr. Masato Hattori.|thumb|281x281px|Artistic restoration