Re: The 5th cerebral nerve once more

["Jaime A. Headden" <qilongia@yahoo.com>]

David Marjanovic (david.marjanovic@gmx.at) wrote:

<I know, this is well enough described in what I've read. But the ophthalmic 
branch is called V1,
isn't it?>

  Damn, I hate writing when I'm tired and dead to the world ... this was 
written with me having
five hours of sleep sixteen hours earlier, and looking forward to several more 
hours of
wakefulness. Sorry. The trigeminal nerve (CN-V) is divided into the ophthalmic 
(V1), and the
maxillary (V2) and mandibular (V3) branches. The ophthalmic separates first, 
then the mandibular
from the maxillary. The first branch is always the ophthalmic. This condition 
occurs in other
dinosaurs, as well, including ceratopsians (Brown & Schlaikjer, 1940, for 
instance).

<(I've found the descriptions of *Monolophosaurus* and *Sinraptor*, but haven't 
copied them yet.
So at least I'll be able to check if state 1 for *Sinraptor* is a simple typo 
or not. But, anyway,
*S.* isn't even a coelurosaur and therefore not extremely relevant for bird 
origins. The
description of the skull of *Erlikosaurus* is in J. Can. Earth Sci. too, isn't 
it?)>

  The braincase of *Monolophosaurus* has not been described. *Erlikosaurus'* 
braincase is
described in detail in a Russian paper, the original description of it, in 
Perle, 1981. The _AM
Novitates_ paper does not make an effort to redescribe *Erlikosaurus'* 
braincase, deeming Perle's
adequate to the point -- even if it is in Russian. Not too bad, I can read 
Russian ... mostly.
 
<So Oviraptoridae have 2 distinct openings and thus state 2 rather than 1? Just 
want to make sure.
:-)>

  Yes, among other dinosaurs. However, it is still the advanced condition, even 
if it is
convergent in other groups. Most of these are theropods.

=====
Jaime A. Headden

  Little steps are often the hardest to take.  We are too used to making leaps 
in the face of adversity, that a simple skip is so hard to do.  We should all 
learn to walk soft, walk small, see the world around us rather than zoom by it.

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