FANTASTIC ANKYLOSAURID (DRAGON) SKULL
Minotaurasaurus ramachandrani
Cretaceous, Maastrichtian stage
Central Asia
M. ramachandrani is a recently coined genus, closely related to the renowned Ankylosaur. They are regarded as the archetypal armored dinosaur, flourishing for only a short period just before the K/T extinction event, one of the very last dinosaurs to appear. Despite their popularity and immediately recognizable form, from the spiked skull to the hefty club-like tail, very few of their remains have been recovered. In ancient times, however, such skulls were considered to be those of dragons, and one glance at the present specimen is enough to conjure such a vision. Of dramatically bizarre appearance, the skull is wider than it is long, with an incredible bony cap of bumps and protrusions, the mandible with a strange and distinctive flared “lip” at the front. The bone displays superb texture in attractive bleached white, with lively dark red highlights, black speckles, and a full set of the strange little broad flat teeth with their distinctive vertical ridging. A superb, highly aesthetic, and immediately dramatic specimen it measures 15 1/2 inches wide and 12 inches high overall, on an ebonized custom metal stand.