ANIMAL SPECIES:Minmi paravertebra
Minmi paravertebra was an ankylosaur, a quadrupedal dinosaur covered in bony armour. It was discovered in 1964 near Minmi Crossing, Queensland, and was the first ankylosaur known from the Southern Hemisphere. Minmi had thin bony rods (ossified tendons, or 'paravertabrae') along its spine that may have been for muscle attachment. This extra muscle power along with its comparatively long legs may have made Minmi a speedy runner. A study of gut contents found that Minmi ate seeds, ferns and other soft plant material.
Identification
Ankylosaurs were heavy-bodied, quadrupedal herbivores. They were armoured for protection against predators. Minmi was unique among ankylosaurs (and other dinosaurs) in having small, backwardly directed bony projections (paravertebrae, or ossified tendons) along the backbone to provide extra attachment for back muscles. These were similar to the bony structures found in crocodiles that strengthen and support the back during the 'high walk'. Along with its unusually long legs, these paravertebrae suggest that Minmi could have outrun at least some predators rather than relying solely on armour for protection.
Minmi had belly armour (absent in most ankylosaurs and related stegosaurs) along with armour (scutes, spikes and dermal ossicles) over the neck and trunk. Minmi did not have a clubbed tail and, unlike almost all other ankylosaurs, had no dermal armour on the skull.
Size range
3m longDistribution
Minmi fossils have been found at two sites in central Queensland. The first specimen was found at Minmi Crossing near Roma on the western Darling Downs, southeast Queensland. A second specimen was later found at Marathon Station near Hughenden in north central Queensland. Although ankylosaur fossils have now been found in both New Zealand and Antarctica, these fossils do not appear to belong to Minmi.
Habitat
During the Early Cretaceous, part of Queensland formed a large island separate from the rest of Australia. The environment is interpreted as a mix of floodplains and woodlands. Although Minmi was found in marine sediments, it was undoubtedly washed out to sea from this nearby terrestrial environment.
Behaviour and adaptations
Feeding and Diet
A study of preserved gut contents (cololites) in Minmi shows that it ate the seeds and fruiting bodies of flowering plants as well as ferns and other soft-leaved plants. This is the first such study in either ankylosaurs or stegosaurs, and the best evidence yet for the diet of herbivorous dinosaurs. It suggests a mainly herbivorous diet for Minmi (one theory proposes that ankylosaurs may have been partly insectivorous). The plant material found in Minmi's abdominal region was finely diced, and Minmi may have cut its food with its serrated cheek teeth after nipping the vegetation off with its beak. The food would then be within the mouth (possibly helped by development of fleshy cheeks). Gastroliths were absent, suggesting that Minmi's teeth were quite efficient at processing food.
Fossils
Between the Minmi Crossing and Marathon specimens, about 90 per cent of Minmi's skeleton has been found, including parts of its armour. This makes it the most complete Australian dinosaur known. The Marathon specimen has much of the body armour, including dorsal neck and trunk armour, as well as smaller ossicles covering the body over the neck, and possibly the limbs, as well as the belly. A transverse band of scutes (plates) on the neck, and spines projecting from the hip, are also preserved. A third, partially articulated specimen has also been recovered in north central Queensland but has not yet been described.
Evolutionary Relationships
Minmi is placed within the Ankylosauria as its most primitive member. It is neither nodosaurid nor ankylosaurid, despite having some features of both groups. In a recent analysis, Minmi was placed close to but outside of to Nodosauridae. Minmi lacks some typical ankylosaur features, either because of its primitiveness (the most likely explanation) or because it has lost these more advanced features. As a basal ankylosaur, Minmi's ancestors probably appeared around the Middle Jurassic, making Minmi a relict from an earlier period in the Early Cretaceous of Australia (a trend seen in many other Australian Cretaceous plants and animals).
Classification
- Species:
- paravertebra
- Genus:
- Minmi
- Family:
- incertae sedis
- Infraorder:
- Ankylosauria
- Suborder:
- Cerapoda
- Order:
- Ornithischia
- Superorder:
- Dinosauria
- Subdivision:
- Avemetatarsalia
- Division:
- Archosauria
- Infraclass:
- Archosauromorpha
- Subclass:
- Diapsida
- Class:
- Sauropsida
- Series:
- Amniota
- Superclass:
- Tetrapoda
- Subphylum:
- Vertebrata
- Phylum:
- Chordata
- Kingdom:
- Animalia
Further Reading
- Carpenter, K. (ed.) The Armored Dinosaurs, Indiana University Press, Bloomington.
- Long, J. A. et al. 2002. Dinosaurs of Australia and New Zealand and Other Animals of the Mesozoic Era. New South Wales University Press, Sydney; 188 pp.
References
- Carpenter, K. 2001. Chapter 21: Phylogenetic analysis of the Ankylosauridae. pp. 455-480 in Carpenter, K. (ed.) The Armored Dinosaurs, Indiana University Press, Bloomington.
- Molnar, R. E. 1980a. An ankylosaur (Ornithischia: Reptilia) from the Lower Cretaceous of southern Queensland. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 20, 77-87.
- Molnar, R. E. and Frey, E. 1987. The paravertebral elements of the Australian ankylosaur Minmi (Reptilia: Ornithischia, Cretaceous). Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, Abhandlungen. 175, 19-37.
- Molnar, R.E. 1996. Preliminary report on a new ankylosaur from the Early Cretaceous of Queensland, Australia. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 39, 653-668.
- Molnar, R. E. 2001. Chapter 16: Armor of the small ankylosaur, Minmi. pp. 341-362 in Carpenter, K. (ed.) The Armored Dinosaurs, Indiana University Press, Bloomington.
- Molnar, R. E. and Clifford, H. T. 2001. Chapter 19: An ankylosaurian cololite from the Lower Cretaceous of Queensland, Australia. pp. 399-412 in Carpenter, K. (ed.) The Armored Dinosaurs, Indiana University Press, Bloomington.
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Minmi paravertebra View full size
Dr Anne Musser
© Dr Anne Musser
Minmi paravertebra View full size
Carl Bento
© Australian Museum
Minmi sp. ribs View full size
Stuart Humphreys
© Australian Museum
Minmi gut contents View full size
© Ralph Molnar
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