Minmi" had four long (for an ankylosaurian) legs, with hind legs that were larger than front legs, a short neck and a wide skull with a very small brain
. The dinosaur grew to about 2 metres (6.6 ft) long[2]
and was roughly 1 metre (3.3 ft) tall to the top of the shoulder
. "Minmi" probably moved relatively slowly on four legs, based on its estimated mass and its leg length as determined by scientists from fossilized tracks.PaleobiologyEdit
"Minmi" was a small armoured
dinosaur, classified in Ankylosauria
(too primitive to be included in either the Ankylosauridae
or Nodosauridae
), that was quadrupedal
and had a long tail. As with other ankylosaurians, "Minmi" was herbivorous
. Unlike most herbivorous dinosaurs, there is direct evidence of the diet of "Minmi": gut contents are known from the well-preserved nearly complete "Minmi" sp. specimen, found in the abdominal cavity in front of the left ilium
. The gut contents consist of fragments of fibrous or vascular
plant tissue, fruiting
bodies, spherical seeds
, and vesicular
tissue (possibly from fern
sporangia
). The most common remains are the fibrous or vascular fragments, which are typically rather uniform in size at 0.6 to 2.7 millimetres (0.02 to 0.11 in) long and have clean cuts at their ends, perpendicular
to a given fragment's long axis. Because of the small size of the fragments, they have been interpreted as having been nibbled from plants or chopped in the mouth, evidence of some method of retaining food in the mouth. These small fragments may have come from twigs or stems, but their size is more suggestive of vascular bundles in leaves. The clean cuts and lack of gastroliths
suggest that the animal relied on oral processing instead of gastroliths or grit to grind food. The seeds (0.3 mm [0.01 in] across) and fruiting bodies (4.5 mm [0.18 in] across) were apparently swallowed whole. Comparison to gut contents and scat from modern herbivorous lizard
, emu
, and goose
indicates that this "Minmi" individual had a more sophisticated process for cutting up plant material.[3]
It had bony protrusions, also known as body armour
, on its head, back, abdomen, legs and along the tail. Several types of armour are known in place in "Minmi" sp., including small ossicles, small keeled scutes on the body, large scutes without keels on the snout, large keeled scutes on the neck, shoulders, and possibly tail, spike-like scutes on the hips, and a combination of ridged and keeled scutes and triangular plates on the tail. There was one preserved ring of scutes around the neck. The arrangement of armour is unclear on the tail, although the triangular plates may have run on the sides of the tail, with long scutes forming a row along the top of the tail.[4]
However, unlike other ankylosaurians, "Minmi" had horizontal plates of bones that ran along the sides of its vertebrae
(hence its species name, "M. paravertebra").
Minmi" had four long (for an ankylosaurian) legs, with hind legs that were larger than front legs, a short neck and a wide skull with a very small brain
. The dinosaur grew to about 2 metres (6.6 ft) long[2]
and was roughly 1 metre (3.3 ft) tall to the top of the shoulder
. "Minmi" probably moved relatively slowly on four legs, based on its estimated mass and its leg length as determined by scientists from fossilized tracks.PaleobiologyEdit
"Minmi" was a small armoured
dinosaur, classified in Ankylosauria
(too primitive to be included in either the Ankylosauridae
or Nodosauridae
), that was quadrupedal
and had a long tail. As with other ankylosaurians, "Minmi" was herbivorous
. Unlike most herbivorous dinosaurs, there is direct evidence of the diet of "Minmi": gut contents are known from the well-preserved nearly complete "Minmi" sp. specimen, found in the abdominal cavity in front of the left ilium
. The gut contents consist of fragments of fibrous or vascular
plant tissue, fruiting
bodies, spherical seeds
, and vesicular
tissue (possibly from fern
sporangia
). The most common remains are the fibrous or vascular fragments, which are typically rather uniform in size at 0.6 to 2.7 millimetres (0.02 to 0.11 in) long and have clean cuts at their ends, perpendicular
to a given fragment's long axis. Because of the small size of the fragments, they have been interpreted as having been nibbled from plants or chopped in the mouth, evidence of some method of retaining food in the mouth. These small fragments may have come from twigs or stems, but their size is more suggestive of vascular bundles in leaves. The clean cuts and lack of gastroliths
suggest that the animal relied on oral processing instead of gastroliths or grit to grind food. The seeds (0.3 mm [0.01 in] across) and fruiting bodies (4.5 mm [0.18 in] across) were apparently swallowed whole. Comparison to gut contents and scat from modern herbivorous lizard
, emu
, and goose
indicates that this "Minmi" individual had a more sophisticated process for cutting up plant material.[3]
It had bony protrusions, also known as body armour
, on its head, back, abdomen, legs and along the tail. Several types of armour are known in place in "Minmi" sp., including small ossicles, small keeled scutes on the body, large scutes without keels on the snout, large keeled scutes on the neck, shoulders, and possibly tail, spike-like scutes on the hips, and a combination of ridged and keeled scutes and triangular plates on the tail. There was one preserved ring of scutes around the neck. The arrangement of armour is unclear on the tail, although the triangular plates may have run on the sides of the tail, with long scutes forming a row along the top of the tail.[4]
However, unlike other ankylosaurians, "Minmi" had horizontal plates of bones that ran along the sides of its vertebrae
(hence its species name, "M. paravertebra").
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