Evolution of Australian armoured dinosaurs
Researcher biography
Lucy joined the UQ Dinosaur Lab as a research assistant and student in 2004. During her undergraduate course, Lucy completed three special research projects involving dinosaur microfossils from the Winton Formation of central-western Queensland and the musculoskeletal anatomy Minmi. During 2007 she completed a first class Honours project on the cranial osteology of Minmi sp. (the Richmond specimen), which she presented at the 68th Annual Meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology in Cleveland, Ohio, in October 2008.
In 2008 she commenced a PhD on Minmi and the early evolution of ankylosaurs (the armoured dinosaurs). This work has revealed that Minmi is not Australia’s only known genus of ankylosaur. Specimens previously assigned to the group from coeval sediments of the Early Cretaceous of Queensland, belong to new genera; Kunbarrasaurus ieversi (Richmond) and a yet to be named group (Julia Creek).
This project is currently on-going as Lucy works part-time whilst raising her young family.
To see and learn more about the work that Lucy undertakes in the lab, click here.
The image above shows Lucy with her two boys Artie (left) and Freddie (right) at Lark Quarry in 2017.
Publications
Leahey, L., R. E. Molnar, K. Carpenter, L. M. Witmer, and S. W. Salisbury. 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, e1475. DOI 10.7717/peerj.1475
Leahey, L.G., Salisbury, S.W. 2013. First evidence of ankylosaurian dinosaurs (Ornithischia: Thyreophora) from the 'mid'-Cretaceous (late Albian–Cenomanian) Winton Formation of Queensland, Australia. Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology 37, 249–257. pdf
Conference papers
Leahey, L., 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. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 39(Supplement):139A.
Leahey, L. & Salisbury, S.W. 2011. First evidence of the ankylosaurian dinosaurs (Ornithischia, Thyreophora) from the mid-Cretaceous (latest Albian-Cenomanian) Winton Formation of Queensland, Australia. Record – Geological Survey of Western Australia, 99, CAVEPS Perth 2011; 13th conference on Australasian vertebrate evolution palaeontology and systematics; programme, abstracts, 2011.
Leahey, L., Molnar, R.E. & Salisbury, S.W. 2010. Postcranial osteology of Minmi sp., a basal ankylosauromorph (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) from the Early Cretaceous (Albian) Allaru Mudstone of Queensland, Australia. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 30(Supplement to Number 5): 121A.
Leahey, L., Molnar, R.E. and Salisbury, S.W., 2009. Minmi and the ankylosauromorph palate. In: K.J. Travuillon, T.H. Worthy, S.J. Hand and P. Creaser (Editors), Conference on Australian Vertebrate Evolution, Palaeontology and Systematics, 2009. Geological Society of Australia, Abstracts 93: 43.
Leahey, L., Molnar, R. E. and Salisbury, S.W. 2008. The cranial osteology of Minmi sp., a basal ankylosauromorph (Ornithischia: Dinosauria) from the Early Cretaceous (Albian) Allaru Formation of Richmond, north-western Queensland, Australia. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 28(Supplement to Number 3), 104A.
Leahey, L. Salisbury, S.W. and Molnar, R.E. 2007. Cranial osteology of Minmi sp., a basal ankylosaurid thyreophoran (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) from the Early Cretaceous (Albian) Allaru Formation of Richmond, north-western Queensland, Australia. In Warren, A. (ed), Conference on Australian Vertebrate Evolution, Palaeontology and Systematics, 2007. Geological Society of Australia, Abstracts 85: 57.
Popular Science articles
Leahey, L. 2016. A dinosaur with an ID crisis. Australasian Science 37(5): 20–23.