Re: T rex MOR 555 underbite

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

Betty Cunningham wrote:

>why does this T rex have such an extreme underbite?  Is it just an
artifact of preservation or perhaps of the way the skull is mounted?<

I've wondered the same thing.  Doesn't look right to me.  I think its due
(at least in part) to the way it's mounted.  The jaw joint between the
articular and the quadrate don't seemed to be lined up correctly.  Perhaps
the jaw needs to be shifted forward a bit; this would decrease the
"underbite" (or overbite, depending on your dentist's perspective). One
thing I've noticed recently however, is that T. rex skulls show a great deal
of variation.