Minmi (dinosaur)

Model of Minmiim National Dinosaur Museum in Canberra

  • Minmi paravertebra Molnar, 1980
  • Minmi spec. (unnamed) Molnar, 1996

Minmi was a genus of bird Beck dinosaurs from the group of Ankylosauria. Finds from the Lower Cretaceous were made ​​in Australia.

Features

Minmi reached a length of about 3 meters, the skull was 29 centimeters long. He moved like all Ankylar quadruped ( on all fours away ) and had compared with other ankylosauruses long limbs - the rear were longer than the front. Like all Ankylar he had an armor of horny scales; these were relatively small and went in rows. Also, the belly was covered with small bony plates, at the top of the tail was a double row of sharp bony scales. The head was to other ankylosauruses not armored up to two projects out of the shed tuberosities in contrast. Unique among ankylosauruses are the horizontal, running alongside the vertebrae bones. He had small, adapted to a plant food teeth.

Discovery and designation

Fossil remains of Minmi have been discovered in Queensland (Australia) and first described in 1980 by Ralph Molnar. It was the first Ankylar from Australia - yes even the entire southern hemisphere. The name derives from Minmi Crossing from at Roma in Queensland. Type species is Minmi paravertebra; in the 1990s, a second, not yet named type of Molnar was discovered. The finds are in the Lower Cretaceous ( Aptian or Albian ), before 126-100 million years ago, dated.

System

Minmi is a primitive representative of the Ankylosauria whose precise systematic classification is difficult and controversial. Originally counted to Nodosauridae, it is now classified to the Ankylosauridae, where he is the sister species of the remaining Ankylosauridae with the exception of the still urtümlicheren Gargoyleosaurus.

Mya (unit) Species description Roma (Queensland)
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