Artist’s impression of Ceratosuchops inferodios and the orientation of the endocast in the skull.
Nationalgeographic.co.id—Paleontologists have reconstructed the brains of two spinosaur species to understand their evolution. The reconstruction uses computed tomography scan data using X-rays.
Paleontologists reconstruct a brain skeletal endocast Baryonyx walkeri and Ceratosuchops inferodios from Cretaceous or Early Cretaceous England.
The results of their analysis have been published in the Journal of Anatomy under the title “Modified skulls but conservative brains? The palaeoneurology and endocranial anatomy of baryonychine dinosaurs (Theropod: Spinosauridae).”
Spinosaurus is a member of the Spinosauridae, a divergent family of large theropod dinosaurs that includes the giant Spinosaurus.
This dinosaur was known from the Early to Middle Cretaceous in Africa, Europe, South America and Asia.
Spinosaurus is one of the most distinctive but least well-known large-bodied theropods.
They are characterized by an elongated and laterally compressed snout, long crocodile-like jaws and conical teeth, as well as in a subset of the species, long neural spinal sails.
This adaptation helps them lead an aquatic lifestyle that allows them to stalk the banks of the river in search of prey, among which are large fish.
This way of life was very different from that of the better known theropods, such as Allosaurus and Tyrannosaurus.
In new research, Chris Barker and colleagues from the University of Southampton aimed to better understand the evolution of the brain and senses of spinosaurs.
They scanned the fossil remains Baryonyx walkeri and Ceratosuchops inferodios, two species of spinosaurs that lived in what is now England about 125 million years ago (Cretaceous period).
Both are the oldest spinosaur species for which braincase material is known.
