Open Paleo

Kunbarrasaurus

Leahey et al., 2015 KOON-ba-rah-SOR-rus

From Wulguru language kunbarra (shield) combined with Greek sauros (lizard); meaning "shield lizard"

113.2–100.5 million years ago Albian, Early Cretaceous
Early Cretaceous stages

Kunbarrasaurus is an extinct genus of small ankylosaurian dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of Australia. The genus contains a single species, K. ieversi.

Diagnosis

  1. Cranial roof flat excluding slight arching of postorbital and nasal
  2. Dorsal surfaces of prefrontal, supraorbital and postorbital form 90° angle with lateral surfaces
  3. Supraorbital comprises single element
  4. Prefrontal restricted to dorsal surface and does not contribute to orbit
  5. Nasals do not contribute to lateral surface; restricted to dorsal surface and medially displaced nasal vestibule
  6. Nasal vestibule completely formed by nasal bone, large relative to maxillary rostrum, fully exposed dorsally and laterally
  7. Maxilla extends entire dorsoventral height of skull and contacts cranial roof at prefrontal
  8. Caudal end of tooth row terminates ventral to caudal margin of orbit
  9. Lacrimal vertically orientated
  10. Pterygoids do not contact one another caudally near braincase; completely separated by basisphenoid
  11. Long axis of quadrate vertically aligned
  12. Coronoid process very pronounced
  13. Braincase sidewall poorly ossified; cranial nerves traversed large bony apertures rather than discrete foramina
  14. Inner ear extremely large in proportion to skull, morphologically unlike any other known dinosaur
  15. Cranial dermal ossifications flat or with very shallow keel
  16. No quadratojugal and squamosal horn or boss-like dermal ossifications present

Species

Kunbarrasaurus ieversi Leahey et al., 2015

Type species

Named for Ian Ivers, the property manager of Marathon Station near Richmond, Queensland, who originally discovered the holotype specimen.

Holotype
QM F18101 , Queensland Museum, Centre for Biodiversity
Material
Near-complete ankylosaurian skeleton including most of skull and mandible with articulated postcranium
Horizon
Allaru Mudstone Formation, Albian, Early Cretaceous , 113.2–100.5 million years ago
Locality
Marathon Station, Queensland, Australia Leahey and colleagues (2015) give the Allaru Mudstone for the holotype and the Toolebuc Formation for other specimens they discuss.

References

  1. Leahey, L. G.; Molnar, R. E.; Carpenter, K.; Witmer, L. M.; Salisbury, S. W. (2015). Cranial osteology of the ankylosaurian dinosaur formerly known as Minmi sp. (Ornithischia: Thyreophora) from the Lower Cretaceous Allaru Mudstone of Richmond, Queensland, Australia. PeerJ 3: e1475. PeerJ. doi:10.7717/peerj.1475 leahey2015a
  2. Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Ornithischians. Princeton University Press.

    Source of the mass and hip height estimates, and the appearance features.

    jones2026a