Open Paleo

Minmi

Molnar, 1980 MIN-mee Disputed

Named for Minmi Crossing, near the site of discovery in Queensland, Australia; the name seems to be Aboriginal in origin but of uncertain meaning.

121.4–113.2 million years ago Aptian, Early Cretaceous
Early Cretaceous stages

Minmi is a genus of small herbivorous ankylosaurian dinosaur that lived during the early Aptian (Early Cretaceous) of Queensland, Australia.

Under dispute

Arbour and Currie (2015) regarded Minmi paravertebra as a nomen dubium, finding none of Molnar's diagnostic characters unique to the holotype, the paravertebrae being ordinary ossified tendons. Leahey and colleagues (2015) kept the genus pending a reappraisal of the holotype alongside a postcranial description of QM F18101, and Leahey and colleagues (2019) still treated it as distinct; Raven and colleagues (2023) scored it in their analysis for that reason. The skeleton long known as Minmi sp. is Kunbarrasaurus ieversi. Analyses before 2015 scored the holotype and QM F18101 as one taxon (Leahey and colleagues, 2015); Arbour and Currie (2015) scored them separately, and Raven and colleagues (2023) scored the holotype alone. Raven and colleagues (2023) recovered the holotype outside Eurypoda in their preferred tree but within Ankylosauria in others, attributing the former to a lack of ankylosaur synapomorphies; Leahey and colleagues (2019) recovered it as a basal ankylosaurian. It is placed at Thyreophora incertae sedis, the nearest clade all these results accept.

Species

Minmi paravertebra Molnar, 1980 Disputed

Type species

Referring to unusual bone elements found along the vertebrae, for which Molnar coined the designation 'paravertebrae'.

Holotype
QM F10329 , Queensland Museum, Geoscience Collection
Material
Partial skeleton lacking skull: eleven back vertebrae, ribs, right hindlimb, belly armor plates
Horizon
Minmi Member, Bungil Formation, Aptian, Early Cretaceous , 121.4–113.2 million years ago
Locality
Gulley about 1 km south of Mack Gulley, on the Injune Road, north of Roma, Queensland, Australia

References

  1. Molnar, R. E. (1980). An ankylosaur (Ornithischia, Reptilia) from the Lower Cretaceous of southern Queensland. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 20(1): 77-87. doi:10.5281/zenodo.16477092

    Gives the site as a gulley south of Mack Gulley and states that Minmi Crossing, which names the genus, is only near it.

    molnar1980b
  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
  3. Raven, T. J.; Barrett, P. M.; Joyce, C. B.; Maidment, S. C. R. (2023). The phylogenetic relationships and evolutionary history of the armoured dinosaurs (Ornithischia: Thyreophora). Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 21(1): 2205433. doi:10.1080/14772019.2023.2205433

    Recovered the holotype outside Eurypoda in its preferred tree and within Ankylosauria in others, attributing the former to a lack of ankylosaur synapomorphies.

    raven2023a
  4. Arbour, V. M.; Currie, P. J. (2015). Systematics, phylogeny and palaeobiogeography of the ankylosaurid dinosaurs. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 14(5): 385-444. Informa UK Limited. doi:10.1080/14772019.2015.1059985

    Regarded Minmi paravertebra as a nomen dubium.

    arbour2015a
  5. Exon, N. F. (1976). Geology of the Surat Basin in Queensland. Bureau of Mineral Resources, Geology and Geophysics, Australia, Bulletin 166.

    Dates the Minmi Member of the Bungil Formation as early Aptian from its pelecypods, belemnite and foraminifera.

    exon1976a
  6. Burger, D. (1980). Palynological studies in the Lower Cretaceous of the Surat Basin, Australia. Bureau of Mineral Resources, Geology and Geophysics, Australia, Bulletin 189.

    Gives the Minmi Member as "dated as lower Aptian".

    burger1980a
  7. 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

    Names Kunbarrasaurus ieversi for the skeleton formerly called Minmi sp., and keeps Minmi paravertebra as distinct pending a reappraisal of the holotype.

    leahey2015a
  8. Leahey, L. G.; Molnar, R. E.; Salisbury, S. W. (2019). More than Minmi: a new Australian ankylosaurian dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous (Albian) of Queensland, with implications for understanding global thyreophoran diversity. Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, 79th Annual Meeting, Program and Abstracts 139. Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, Brisbane.

    Still treats Minmi paravertebra as distinct, and recovers it as a basal ankylosaurian.

    leahey2019a