page_title: Kunbarrasaurus
section_title: Paleobiology
hierarchical_section_title: Kunbarrasaurus / Paleobiology
caption_attribution_description: Semitransparent skull of Kunbarrasaurus ieversi gen. et sp. nov. (QM F18101) showing the position of components of the nasal cavity, cranial endocast, and endosseous labyrinth of the inner ear in (A) left lateral aspect, (B) dorsal aspect, (C) ventral aspect, and (D) left rostrodorsolateral aspect.
context_page_description: Kunbarrasaurus is a genus of small herbivorous ankylosaurian dinosaur from the Cretaceous of Australia.
context_section_description: As with other ankylosaurians, Kunbarrasaurus was herbivorous. Unlike most herbivorous dinosaurs, there is direct evidence of the diet of Kunbarrasaurus: gut contents are known from the well-preserved nearly complete holotype specimen, found in the abdominal cavity in front of the left ilium. The gut contents consist of fragments of fibrous or vascular plant tissue, fruiting bodies, spherical seeds, and vesicular tissue (possibly from fern sporangia). The most common remains are the fibrous or vascular fragments, which are typically rather uniform in size at 0.6 to 2.7 millimetres (0.024 to 0.106 inches) long and have clean cuts at their ends, perpendicular to a given fragment's long axis. Because of the small size of the fragments, they have been interpreted as having been nibbled from plants or chopped in the mouth, evidence of some method of retaining food in the mouth. These small fragments may have come from twigs or stems, but their size is more suggestive of vascular bundles in leaves. The clean cuts and lack of gastroliths suggest that the animal relied on oral processing instead of gastroliths or grit to grind food. The seeds (0.3 mm [0.01 in] across) and fruiting bodies (4.5 mm [0.18 in] across) were apparently swallowed whole. Comparisons with gut contents and scat from other modern herbivores like lizards, emus, and geese indicate that this Kunbarrasaurus individual had a more sophisticated process for cutting up plant material.
caption: CT scan of the skull, showing internal components
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