INIBIOMA   20415
INSTITUTO DE INVESTIGACIONES EN BIODIVERSIDAD Y MEDIOAMBIENTE
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
artículos
Título:
BRAINCASE AND NEUROANATOMY OF PSEUDOCHAMPSA ISCHIGUALASTENSIS AND TROPIDOSUCHUS ROMERI (ARCHOSAURIFORMES, PROTEROCHAMPSIA)
Autor/es:
TROTTEYN, M.J.; PAULINA CARABAJAL, A.
Revista:
AMEGHINIANA
Editorial:
ASOCIACION PALEONTOLOGICA ARGENTINA
Referencias:
Lugar: Buenos Aires; Año: 2016 vol. 53 p. 527 - 542
ISSN:
0002-7014
Resumen:
Proterochampsids form a clade of archosauriforms endemic to South America, interpreted as the sister-taxon of the crown-group Archosauria. Because of this, aspects of  the skull osteology in this group are particularly important to understand the evolutionary  radiation of Archosauriformes. The braincase anatomy of archosauriforms was described  for several groups, including few proterochampsids. However, paleoneurological studies on  basal archosauriforms are scarce, and these were never conducted on proterochampsids,  except for few preliminary analyses of Tropidosuchus romeri and Pseudochampsa  ischigualastensis. Here we add descriptive information on the braincase and partial  endocranial morphology of the type-specimens of the proterochampsids Pseudochampsa  ischigualastensis and Tropidosuchus romeri based on CT scans. Reptile Encephalazation  Quotient (REQ) and olfactory ratios were calculated for the first the time for a  proterochampsid, indicating a high olfactory acuity for Tropidosuchus romeri, and  suggesting a lifestyle similar to that of living crocodylians. The neurocranial information  presented here is important due the scarcity of such data for Proterochampsidae.