Minotaurasaurus
| Minotaurasaurus | ||||||||||||
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Live reconstruction of Minotaurasaurus ramachandrani |
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| Temporal occurrence | ||||||||||||
| Upper Chalk | ||||||||||||
| 100.5 to 66 million years | ||||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Minotaurasaurus | ||||||||||||
| Miles & Miles , 2009 | ||||||||||||
| Art | ||||||||||||
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Minotaurasaurus was a bird basin dinosaur (Ornithischia) from the group of Ankylosauria , which lived in the Upper Cretaceous Central Asia . This genus is known from an almost complete skull , on the basis of which the only species Minotaurasaurus ramachandrani was first described in2009.
Discovery story
The skull serving as the holotype of the species and genus was bought from a dealer by the neurologist V. S. Ramachandran and made available to science. The location is unknown, but the rock surrounding the skull shows that it came from the Gobi Desert . The Latin generic name Minotaurasaurus means something like "bull man reptile" and alludes to the bull-like appearance of the skull, which is reminiscent of the Minotaur of Greek mythology . The specific epithet ramachandrani honors VS Ramachandran. The genus was first described in 2009 by CA Miles and CJ Miles. Its length was up to four meters.
features
The skull is characterized by large, elliptical nostrils that are surrounded by well-developed osteoderms . Seen from above, the skull is longer than it is wide (without the squamosal horns) and appears almost trapezoidal due to the enlarged nostrils . The squamosal horns form the widest point of the skull. They are more delicate and pointed than any other ankylosaurid. The roof of the skull is formed by wide, pyramidal cusps. As computed tomography images show, it is a question of remodeled bone substance , not osteodermata. Overall, the skull shows typical features of late Cretaceous ankylosaurs, with the skull being more primitive than that of other species.
literature
- Clifford A. Miles, Clark J. Miles: Skull of Minotaurasaurus ramachandrani, a new Cretaceous ankylosaur from the Gobi Desert. In: Current Science. Vol. 96, No. 1, 2009, ISSN 0011-3891 , pp. 65-70, digital version (PDF; 1.0 MB) .
