Re: Trike fights

[Dinogeorge@aol.com]

In a message dated 96-01-27 10:28:28 EST, Robert.J.Meyerson@uwrf.edu (Rob
Meyerson) writes:

>Again, how can this work for animals like _Triceratops_, who don't have any
>fenestrae?  The frill is solid enough to make it impossible for a muscle to
>get
>to the frill by going *through* the skull.  It seems to me that the only way
>for
>the muscle to go is outside the skull.  Whether this is unique to Trike, or
>common for the group, is open to debate.
>
>

_Triceratops_ had supratemporal fenestra just like all the other ceratopians.
What it didn't have were _parietal_ fenestrae, the big holes in the frill
itself. The usual lateral, dorsal, and anterior views that you see of the
skull don't show the supratemporal fenestrae, because they're narrow and
located under the "occipital overhang" (for want of a better term) of the
skull just ahead of the base of the frill. Next time you're viewing a real
_Triceratops_ skull (not just a cast, in which the narrow openings might be
artificially blocked off), check behind the brow horns, just ahead of the
frill, and you'll see them. They lead out onto the dorsal surface of the
frill.