Pronunciation: min-uh-TOR-a-SOR-us
Meaning: Minotaur lizard
Author/s: Clifford Miles (2009)
Synonyms: None known
First Discovery: Uncertain
Discovery Chart Position: #668
Minotaurasaurus ramachandrani
Bucking the trend of your average dinosaur discovery, which is made in, or at least on, the ground, the holotype skull of Minotaurasaurus was found loitering at the Tucson Gem, Mineral and Fossil Show, which has long been troubled by the sale of illegally imported fossils. It immediately caught the eye of prominent California neuroscientist Vilayanur S. Ramachandran who purchased it for the princely sum of 10,000 dollars from a shifty Japan-based trader named Hollis Butts (seller of the equally questionable Raptorex). Then it was passed to Clifford Miles and his brother Clark of Western Paleontological Laboratories near Salt Lake City for study.
Susan Meyers, a volunteer for the Denver Museum, is credited with cleaning the specimen but was not allowed to do so on DMNS premises, and the Clifford's first attempt to publish their findings in a 2006 Polish journal was vetoed, because of the underlying suspicion that what they were working with was obtained by unlawful means. Both China and Mongolia forbid the export of their fossils without prior written permission, so when the fossil matrix suggested a Gobi provenance of one or the other and the relevant paperwork failed to materialize, no self-respecting institution would touch it with a bargepole. Not until 2009, that is.
Shenanigans aside, the skull of Minotaurasaurus is full of unique characteristics, but an unusually flat profile — as described by the name-coining authors — is more likely the result of compressive force during fossilization rather than a natural feature. Its snout is broad but "pinched" like a peanut shell mid-length, its nostrils are huge, and it has four horns. CT scans revealed an intricate nasal labyrinth that may have been some kind of cooling system and also showed that the pyramid-shaped ornamentation on its skull surface were not formed by osteoderms being fused to the skull but were outgrowths of solid bone. Ramachandran has since offered to repatriate the fossil "if anyone can prove it was taken illegally", with many thinking that a lack of traceable paperwork from excavation to point of sale is proof enough. Further discoveries have ensured that he should be getting ready for a trip to the post office any time now.
In 2014, Victoria Arbour announced that Minotaurasaurus is synonymous with Tarchia kielanae, which she resurrected at the expense of Tarchia gigantea, dismissed Dyoplosaurus as dubious despite her previous assertions to the contrary, and also assigned the much-studied Tarchia specimen PIN 3142/250 to Saichania chulsaensis. However, Paul Penalski and Tatiana Tumanova resurrected Minotaurasaurus in 2017 after comparing its holotype and a referred specimen with a confirmed Mongolian provenance (that Arbour hadn't examined) to the holotype of Tarchia kielenae (that Arbour couldn't find), and returned PIN 3142/250 to Tarchia, albeit as a new species: Tarchia teresae.
Susan Meyers, a volunteer for the Denver Museum, is credited with cleaning the specimen but was not allowed to do so on DMNS premises, and the Clifford's first attempt to publish their findings in a 2006 Polish journal was vetoed, because of the underlying suspicion that what they were working with was obtained by unlawful means. Both China and Mongolia forbid the export of their fossils without prior written permission, so when the fossil matrix suggested a Gobi provenance of one or the other and the relevant paperwork failed to materialize, no self-respecting institution would touch it with a bargepole. Not until 2009, that is.
Shenanigans aside, the skull of Minotaurasaurus is full of unique characteristics, but an unusually flat profile — as described by the name-coining authors — is more likely the result of compressive force during fossilization rather than a natural feature. Its snout is broad but "pinched" like a peanut shell mid-length, its nostrils are huge, and it has four horns. CT scans revealed an intricate nasal labyrinth that may have been some kind of cooling system and also showed that the pyramid-shaped ornamentation on its skull surface were not formed by osteoderms being fused to the skull but were outgrowths of solid bone. Ramachandran has since offered to repatriate the fossil "if anyone can prove it was taken illegally", with many thinking that a lack of traceable paperwork from excavation to point of sale is proof enough. Further discoveries have ensured that he should be getting ready for a trip to the post office any time now.
In 2014, Victoria Arbour announced that Minotaurasaurus is synonymous with Tarchia kielanae, which she resurrected at the expense of Tarchia gigantea, dismissed Dyoplosaurus as dubious despite her previous assertions to the contrary, and also assigned the much-studied Tarchia specimen PIN 3142/250 to Saichania chulsaensis. However, Paul Penalski and Tatiana Tumanova resurrected Minotaurasaurus in 2017 after comparing its holotype and a referred specimen with a confirmed Mongolian provenance (that Arbour hadn't examined) to the holotype of Tarchia kielenae (that Arbour couldn't find), and returned PIN 3142/250 to Tarchia, albeit as a new species: Tarchia teresae.
(Ramachandran's Minotaur Lizard)Etymology
According to the authors, Minotaurosaurus means "man-bull lizard", which is derived from "Minotaur" (a terrible Knossos labyrinth-dwelling "bull" from Greek mythology) and the Greek "sauros" (lizard), alluding to the skull's bull-like appearance. However, their translation is off. Minotaur actually means "Minos' Bull" and is named for the mythical King Minos of Crete, who, due to increasing unrest amongst his citizens, prayed to the gods and received a sacred white bull from Poseidon as approval of his reign. Minos was to sacrifice this taurean gift in Poseidon's honour but reneged on the deal, so the furious sea god drove Minos' wife (Pasiphae) mad with desire. And after a particularly disturbing episode involving said bull and a purpose-built hollow wooden cow in which Pasiphae had strategically positioned herself, Minotaur (aka Asterion) was conceived. The species epithet, ramachandrani, honours Vilayanur S. Ramachandran.
Discovery
The type locality of Minotaurasaurus is far from certain, but it possibly/probably hails from the Djadochta (aka Djadokta) Formation in Mongolia's Nemegt Basin. The holotype (INBR 21004) is a virtually complete skull.
In 2016, Penalski and Tumanova referred MAE 98 179 (a skull, axis, and first cervical half-ring), which is definitely from the Djadokhta Formation at Ukhaa Tolgod, to Minotaurasaurus.
