1.Introduction
Dinocephalians are a non-mammalian therapsids (mammalian ancestors) that lived during the Permian (~260 million years ago) [1,2, 3]. They are divided into two main groups: carnivorous (anteosaurs) and herbivorous (tapinocephalians) [1,4,5]. What unites dinocephalians as a group is their disproportionately large heads and excessively thick skulls, which can be around 10 cm...
Orthosuchus stormbergi was a small bodied, Early Jurassic crocodyliform. It is a representative of a diverse assemblage of early branching crocodylomorph taxa from the upper Elliot Formation of South Africa. The life history of these early branching taxa remains poorly understood, with only sparse investigations into their osteohistology, yet species like Orthosuchus have potential to...
Abstract
The maxillary canal is an osseous tube, in the upper jaw that houses key branches of the trigeminal nerve, and plays a crucial role in facial sensitivity and motor function in vertebrates [1,2]. Although its evolution has been widely studied in the sister taxon, Cynodontia (which includes modern mammals), far less is known about this structure in therocephalians [2,3]....
