Minotaurasaurus was a medium-sized ankylosaurid, with an estimated length of 4.2 metres (13.8 feet), although it may have reached larger sizes as the type specimen represents an immature individual.

The skull was put on display by Robert Gaston for the fossil poacher Hollis Butts, who Ramachandran purchased it from[citation needed].

The publication was later criticised by palaeontologists such as Mark Norell, Phillip J. Currie and Bolortsetseg Minjin due to the questionable origins of the specimen.

[2] The generic name, Minotaurasaurus, is derived from the Minotaur and the Greek word "sauros" (lizard), in reference to the bull-like appearance of the holotype skull.

[2] In 2013, a Society of Vertebrate Paleontology abstract book mentioned the discovery of a second specimen of Minotaurasaurus (MAE 98 179) from the Uhkaa Tolgod locality of the late Campanian Djadochta Formation in the Nemegt Basin.

[4][5][6] Its validity was also tested by Arbour & Currie (2012) by using a retrodeformation and finite element analysis, which found that many of its diagnostic features were likely not caused by deformation.

The paroccipital processes are not present laterally to the squamosal horns due to presence of a small and dorsoventrally shallow occiput.

Instead of being vertical or even slightly overturned as seen in most ankylosaurids, the main body of the pterygoids is near horizontal which, as a result, makes the interpterygoid vacuity in palatal view.

The position of the cheeks on the lower jaws is marked by the boundary between the smooth and the textured surfaces during occlusion as it is opposite to the lateral edge of the maxillary shelf.

Penkalski & Tumanova (2016) also conducted a phylogenetic analysis which found Minotaurasaurus as being at the base of a clade containing Zaraapelta, Saichania and Tarchia.

[4] Park et al. (2021) also had similar results to Penkalski & Tumanova (2016), while Wiersma & Irmis (2018) recovered it within a polytomy with Tarchia kielanae and Shanxia.

[4] Minotaurasaurus Zaraapelta Saichania T. kielanae T. teresae Pinacosaurus The results of an earlier analysis by Thompson et al. (2012) are reproduced below.

[8] Huayangosaurus taibaii Stegosaurus armatus Nodosauridae Minmi paravertebra Liaoningosaurus paradoxus Cedarpelta bilbeyhallorum Gobisaurus domoculus Shamosaurus scutatus Zhongyuansaurus luoyangensis Tsagantegia longicranialis Shanxia tianzhensis "Crichtonsaurus" benxiensis Dyoplosaurus acutosquameus Pinacosaurus mephistocephalus Ankylosaurus magniventris Euoplocephalus tutus Minotaurasaurus ramachandrani Pinacosaurus grangeri Nodocephalosaurus kirtlandensis Talarurus plicatospineus Tianzhenosaurus youngi Saichania chulsanensis Tarchia gigantea Minotaurasaurus was, like other Mongolian ankylosaurines, herbivorous and a low-level bulk feeder based on its sub-rectangular broad muzzle.

[10] Instead of oral processing, ankylosaurids living in dry environments such as Minotaurasaurus may have relied more on hindgut fermentation for digestion or, alternatively, consumed succulent plants that did not require complex chewing.

These ankylosaurids may have also been restricted to simple orthal pulping and might have had to deal with more grit during feeding compared to ankylosaurs that lived in tropical to subtropical climates, as indicated by the microwear pits.

[12] Park et al. (2021) suggested that there was a shift from bulk feeding to selective feeding in Mongolian ankylosaurines during the Campanian and Maastrichtian stages which may have either been caused by the change in habitat, as the climate changed from semi-arid and arid to humid, or interspecific competition with saurolophine hadrosaurids that immigrated from North America to Central Asia during the Campanian stage.

[10] The type specimen of Minotaurasaurus may have had a pair of small osteoderms below the orbits that were homologous to the posterior cheek plates of nodosaurids such as Panoplosaurus and Edmontonia.

The Bayn Dzak Member consists of moderate reddish orange, crossbedded, and structureless sandstones, with subordinate deposits of brown siltstone and mudstone.

[13] Based on the strata, rock facies, sedimentation and coeval units, the Djadochta Formation represents an arid environment consisting of sand dunes and short-lived water bodies with a warm, semiarid climate.

[14] Specimens of Minotaurasaurus likely originated from the lower Bayn Dzak Member of the Djadochta Formation, which have also yielded specimens of the dromaeosaurids Velociraptor mongoliensis and Tsaagan;[15][16] the halszkaraptorine Halszkaraptor;[17] the troodontids Byronosaurus and Saurornithoides;[18][19] the oviraptorids Citipati, Oviraptor and Khaan;[20][21] the alvarezsaurid Shuvuuia;[22] the ankylosaurid Pinacosaurus grangeri;[23] the ceratopsian Protoceratops;[24] an indeterminate hadrosauroid;[25] and an indeterminate azhdarchid.