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Minmi (dinosaur)

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Dinosaurs

            iMinmi
   Scientific classification

   Kingdom:    Animalia
   Phylum:     Chordata
   Class:      Sauropsida
   Superorder: Dinosauria
   Order:      Ornithischia
   Suborder:   Thyreophora
   Infraorder: Ankylosauria
   Genus:      Minmi
               Molnar, 1980

   Minmi, named for Minmi Crossing, Australia (where it was found), was a
   small species of ankylosaur that lived during the early Cretaceous
   Period, about 119 to 113 million years ago. It appears to have been one
   of the more successful animals of its time, as more Minmi fossils have
   been discovered than any other single Australian dinosaur. At least
   five near-complete skeletons have been found, spread all over Australia
   (and maybe even in New Zealand).

Discovery and species

   Minmi was found near the Minmi Crossing, in the Bungil Formation, near
   Roma, Queensland, Australia. It was first described in 1980 by Ralph E.
   Molnar. It had the shortest name of any dinosaur, until Mei was named
   in 2004.

   Minmi species
     * M. paravertebra

Paleobiology

   model - National Dinosaur Museum, Canberra
   Enlarge
   model - National Dinosaur Museum, Canberra

   Minmi was a small armored dinosaur, part of the ankylosaur group (too
   primitive to be included in either the Ankylosauridae or Nodosauridae),
   that was quadrupedal and had a long tail. As with other ankylosaurs,
   Minmi was herbivorous, eating low-lying plant material like cycads,
   ferns, horsetail rushes. It had bony protrusions, also known as body
   armor, on its head, back, abdomen, legs and along the tail. However,
   unlike other ankylosaurs, 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 rear legs that
   were larger than front legs, a short neck and a wide skull with a very
   small brain. The dinosaur grew to about 10 feet (3 m) long and was
   roughly 3 feet (1 m) tall to the top of the shoulder. Minmi probably
   moved relatively slowly on four legs, as determined by scientists from
   fossilized tracks, its estimated mass and its leg length. Some argue
   that its intelligence, (as measured by its relative brain to body
   weight, or EQ), was below the average among the other dinosaurs at the
   time.

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