[1] In 1934, Levi Sternberg discovered the skeleton of a small ornithomimid at Quarry N° 028 near the Red Deer River in the area of the present Dinosaur Provincial Park in Canada.

[1] The known specimen of Rativates was a subadult or adult individual of at least eight years in age, as demonstrated through lines of arrested growth in a thin section of the right femur.

The authors identified four autapomorphies, unique derived traits, that distinguish Rativates from all other ornithomimids: the part of the maxilla contacting the jugal is relatively short and posteroventrally located; the tail vertebrae in front of the transition point (where the tail vertebrae become abruptly thinner and more elongated) have unusually horizontally short, mound-like neural spines; the left and right shafts of the ischia are entirely fused together on their back surfaces, with no vertical cleft between them; and the flexor edge of the third metatarsal is straight, not concave as in other ornithomimids.

Unlike Struthiomimus, the anterior portion of the ilium reaches as far forward as the end of the pubic shaft, and the medial (inner) edge of the third metatarsal is straighter as well.

[1] Archaeornithomimus asiaticus Dzharacursor bissektensis Sinornithomimus dongi Gallimimus bullatus Rativates evadens Struthiomimus altus Qiupalong henanensis Ansermimimus planinychus Ornithomimus edmontonicus