Unique skull network complexity of Tyrannosaurus rex among land vertebrates.

ABSTRACT: Like other diapsids, Tyrannosaurus rex has two openings in the temporal skull region. In addition, like in other dinosaurs, its snout and lower jaw show large cranial fenestrae. In T. rex, they are thought to decrease skull weight, because, unlike most other amniotes, the skull proportion is immense compared to the body. Understanding morphofunctional complexity of this impressive skull architecture requires a broad scale phylogenetic comparison with skull types different to that of dinosaurs with fundamentally diverging cranial regionalization. Extant fully terrestrial vertebrates (amniotes) provide the best opportunities in that regard, as their skull performance is known from life. We apply for the first time anatomical network analysis to study skull bone integration and modular constr

SUBMITTER: Werneburg I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6365547 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature