ZoomDinosaurs.com Dinosaur and Paleontology Dictionary

MURAENOSAURUS Muraenosaurus was a plesiosaur 20 feet (6 m) long with a very long neck, and a wide body. From what is now England and France during the late Jurassic period. It was not a dinosaur, but another type of extinct reptile.

MUSSAURUS (pronounced moo-SAWR-us) Mussaurus (meaning "mouse lizard") was a prosauropod dinosaur, a plant-eating dinosaur that lived during the late Triassic period, about 215 million years ago. Only hatchling (baby) Mussaurus only 9-16 inches long (18-37 cm) have been found; these are the smallest dinosaurs skeleton yet found. It was perhaps up to 10 feet long (3 m) as an adult, weighing roughly 260 pounds (120 kg). Eggs were only about 1 inch long (2.5 cm). Coloradisaurus may be the adult version of Mussaurus. Ten fragmentary juvenile fossils, 4 skulls, and eggs have been found in the El Tranquilo Formation, Santa Cruz, Argentina. Mussaurus was named by paleontologists Bonaparte and Vince in 1979. The type species is M. patagonicus. It may have been a plateosaurid dinosaur.

MUTTABURRASAURUS (pronounced mutt-ah-BUHR-ah-SAWR-us) Muttaburrasaurus (meaning "Muttaburra [in Queensland, Australia] lizard") was an ornithopod, a plant-eating dinosaur about 24 feet (7 m) long, dating from the middle Cretaceous period, about 113-97.5 million years ago. It probably ate cycads, ferns, and conifers and may have lived in herds. It had a large bulge on its long snout between its eyes and its mouth, a flattened thumb spike, hoof-like claws, and teeth that worked like shears. The bony bump on its snout may have been associated with its sense of smell or its ability to make sounds. An ornithopod, it is either an iguanodontid or a camptosaurid dinosaur. Muttaburrasaurus was described and named by Ralph E. Molinar and Alan Bartholomai in 1981 from a fossil found at Muttaburra in central Queensland, Australia (it was found by Doug Langdon in 1963 by the Thompson River in central Queensland, Australia). The type species is M. langdoni.

MUTUALISM Mutualism is an association between two different species of organisms in which both benefit from the association. An example of mutualism is the relationship between bees and the flowers they sip nectar from- the bees get nectar from the flower and the flower gets pollinated by the bees. Mutualism used to be called symbiosis (which is now a more general term).

1,000,000 MYA "mya" stands for millions of years ago.

MYMOORAPELTA (pronounced my-MOOR-ah-PEL-tah) Mymoorapelta (meaning "Mygatt-Moore [Quarry] shield") was an armored, plant-eating dinosaur from the late Jurassic period. This ankylosaur (an Ankylosaurid) was about 9 ft (2.7 m) long and had no tail club. An incomplete fossil was found in Colorado, USA. Mymoorapelta was named by paleontologists Kirkland and Carpenter in 1994. The type species is M. maysi. Mymoorapelta was named to honor Peter and Marilyn Mygatt and John D. and Vanetta Moore, two couples who, in March 1981, discovered a Camarasaurus fossil in that a part of the Morrison Formation (in the high desert of western Colorado) that is now known as the Mygatt-Moore Quarry.

ZoomDinosaurs.com Dinosaur and Paleontology Dictionary

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

X

Y

Z

Enchanted Learning^®
Over 35,000 Web Pages
Sample Pages for Prospective Subscribers, or click below

Click to read our Privacy Policy

E-mail