Re: postparietal fenestrae lost

["Jaime A. Headden" <qilongia@yahoo.com>]

Ken Kinman (kinman@hotmail.com) wrote:

<On September 10th, Jaime listed the loss of postparietal fenestra(e) as a 
synapomorphy of
Dinosauria.

  Is this the pair of fenestrae caused by the incomplete fusion of the 
supraoccipital with the
parietals (fusion which is presumably completed only once---- at or near the 
origins of
Dinosauria)?>

  Yes, there is a distinctive slot between the exoccipitals and the parietals, 
with the medial
boundary formed by the supraoccipital. Note: according to Chatterjee's 
reconstruction, this is
present in *Protoavis*, but since the braincase was disarticulated from many of 
the roofing bones,
as I'm to understand it, this may be ambiguous at best.

<I am especially wondering if postparietal fenestrae are found throughout 
crurotarsi (including
parasuchians).>

  It's a pity I'm not more familiar with phytosaurs or other psuedosuchians, or 
I could answer
that. My list was cobbled together, I did not formulate it from observation. 
However, it is part
of the list used by Sereno and Novas in the early 1990's, so you may wish to 
refer there for their
data. My few papers are psuedosuchians are restricted to a couple by Charig, 
and that's pretty
much it.


=====
Jaime A. Headden

  Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhr-gen-ti-na
  Where the Wind Comes Sweeping Down the Pampas!!!!

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