Varanus/ Diplodocus Bony Nares

[MarkSabercat@aol.com]

On Friday, Dec. 26, Aspidel wrote:

<But maybe you didn't notice the low hump (lit in blue) on the top of 
the
snout, which is very similar, although much lower, to the one of the 
Komodo
monitor and that indicates IMHO the front extension of the fleshy nares 
in
_Diplodocus_.>

It is similar, and it's true that a Komodo's bony nares are considerably 
retracted caudally, but Diplodocus doesn't have the same dorsal concavities 
dorso-rostrally that V. komodoensis has; In Diplodocus and Apatosaurus there 
are 
typically a set of more or less bilaterally symmetrical, V-shaped grooves 
originating anterior to the bony nares and gradually radiating from a parallel 
position as they go towards the premaxillae. There isn't anything to me like 
the 
massive, well-defined concavity anterior to the jutting nasal crest that you 
see 
on a macronarian like Brachiosaurus, which I think is a far better candidate 
for anterior nares; I strongly disagree that diplodocoids had antero-rostrally 
placed fleshy nares.  --Mark Hallett