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Blakekalb•

Forgive the gross over-simplification of paleo-biology on my part, but wouldn't this seem fairly in line with intuition and reason? Even for Allosaurids with larger arms relative to body size, these dinosaurs' primary source of interaction with the world would have been their heads/faces. I would think we'd all expect a complex system of nerves that could bring in multiple different types of information all at once to help the creature orient itself and interact with its environment.

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MattariasTeam Deinonychus•

That's exactly my thoughts. If you're basically just a huge walking head, that's gonna be how you deal with everything.

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EotyrannusTeam Compsognathus•

To my knowledge, there's not much in the way of analogues to it apart from crocodiles- perhaps it's another thing we haven't studied enough like when we found air sacs in a monitor lizard. I'd be interested in seeing if monitors have similarly enlarged structures as well.

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fuzzjawOPTeam Tyrannosaurus Rex•

Micro-CT was performed on the maxilla and premaxilla of Neovenator to explore structures that communicate with extensive foramina that cover the external surface. Authors found a network of neurovascular channels connected to these foramina. BArker et al. suggest that this network supported a special sensory network on the face for tactile sensation. This may have been used for feeding, nesting or intraspecific communication (i.e. face-biting). This type of sense network is present in crocodiles and similar osteological correlates have been found in spinosaurids and tyrannosaurids.

My thoughts: That being said, these canals also contain blood vessels, and it is difficult to differentiate neural and vascular tissue in fossils. These type of sensory networks are found in aquatic adapted crocodilians and have a mixed presence in birds. Extensive foramina covering the snout is found in most major groups of theropods, suggesting a similar network may be plesiomorphic for Averostra. My biggest concern is this kind of sensory modality is not present in terrestrial relatives of dinosaurs (i.e. birds,) so there is not a strong support for EPB (Extant Phylogenetic Bracketing). Lastly, the best supporting evidence for this sensory network would be an enlarged canal for the exit of cranial nerve V (trigeminal), supporting a larger role for neural, as opposed to vascular, structures. I do not believe there is a brain case for either Neovenator or spinosaurids, but for tyrannosaurids, there isn't any indication that the exit for CN V is abnormally large.

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