T. rex skull (was: Carnegie "Dippy" Saturday)

["Patrick Norton" <ptnorton@email.msn.com>]

Chris Srnka wrote:

>I now have the "big three" in my photo reference collection (hope all the
photos turn out well!). If anyone would like to see scans of the photos when
I get them back in a few days, let me know. <


Thanks; a generous offer. I'd really like to see your photos, particularly
any of the posterior end of the T. rex skull.  I'm working on a sculpture of
the T. rex skull and can't figure out from my reference material 1) if the
plane of the occipital bone is vertical or tilted forward slightly (i.e.,
with the head held horizontally is the supraoccipital crest directly
vertically above the occipital condyle or is it above and slightly forward
of the o.c.?) and 2) how the occipital, squamosal and the dorsal end of the
quadrate fit together.  I'm using Molnar (1991) for the details of the
individual skull elements, but photos and good diagrams of the back end of
the T. rex skull seem about as rare as the real thing.  Any comments from
the experts or references to diagrams or photos would be appreciated.

Thanks.