BRIEF COMMENT ON THE BRAIN AND INNER EAR OF GIGANOTOSAURUS CAROLINII (DINOSAURIA: THEROPODA) BASED ON CT SCANS

PAULINA CARABAJAL, A.; NIETO, N.

AMEGHINIANA

ASOCIACION PALEONTOLOGICA ARGENTINA

Lugar: Buenos Aires; Año: 2020 vol. 57 p. 58 - 62

0002-7014

The neuroanatomy of Carcharodontosaurinae theropods is known for only twotaxa (and two specimens): Carcharodontosaurussaharicus from the Upper Cretaceous of Africa,and Giganotosaurus carolinii from the Upper Cretaceous of South America. First, the endocranial cavity of the typebraincase of G. carolinii was emptied of sediment and a latex endocast was made, although the latter lacked certain structures since theirosseous correlates were still infilled with sediment or broken. A recently made CT scan of the braincase of G. carolinii allowed the digitalreconstruction of a more complete cranial endocast, plus the firstreconstruction of the inner ear for this taxon. As a result, a most accurateidentification of the neurovascular cranial foramina of the braincase was made.