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44 SOCIETY OF VERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY, MEMOIR 3<br />

ram asc<br />

fos antorb max<br />

FIGURE 31. Dilophosaurus wetherilli. Stereophotographs <strong>of</strong> right antorbital region <strong>of</strong> UCMP 77270 in lateral view, with interpretive drawing.<br />

(e.g., Gauthier, 1986; Bonaparte et al., 1990), but even the presence<br />

(not to mention the broad distribution) <strong>of</strong> the promaxillary<br />

fenestra has not been widely recognized. In the ceratosaurians<br />

mentioned above, the aperture is relatively small, located just<br />

caudomedial to the rim <strong>of</strong> the external antorbital fenestra within<br />

the maxillary antorbital fossa, and faces more caudally than<br />

laterally; its shape is more-or-less slitlike, being taller than long.<br />

In at least Dilophosaurus wetherilli (UCMP 77270, Fig. 3 1; see<br />

also Welles, 1984), the aperture leads into a single cavity within<br />

the ascending ramus <strong>of</strong> the maxilla. This structure is precisely<br />

that <strong>of</strong> the promaxillary fenestra and recess <strong>of</strong> neotetanurans. I<br />

suggest here that the presence <strong>of</strong> a promaxillary fenestra probably<br />

characterizes neotheropods, with the maxillary fenestra being<br />

a synapomorphy <strong>of</strong> a less inclusive clade, perhaps Tetanurae<br />

or-~eotetanurae,<br />

The situation in basal tetanurans remains unclear. Megalosaurus<br />

hesperis (BMNH R332; Waldman, 1974) has only a single,<br />

moderately large fenestra visible, although it is not clear<br />

from available material if a concealed promaxillary fenestra<br />

was present. Likewise, Zhao and Currie (1994) identified only<br />

a single, fairly large opening within the rostra1 apex <strong>of</strong> the antorbital<br />

cavity <strong>of</strong> Monolophosaurus jiangi. Although in both<br />

cases these openings have been called maxillary fenestrae, they<br />

occupy the position <strong>of</strong> promaxillary fenestrae. Further complicating<br />

matters, Sereno et al. (1996) scored M. jiangi as having<br />

both a promaxillary recess and a maxillary fenestra. Again, resolution<br />

is difficult. It is possible that one fenestra (and accessory<br />

cavity) or the other could be lost, perhaps even incorpo-<br />

rated into the other (like the joining <strong>of</strong> soap bubbles), by breakdown<br />

<strong>of</strong> the promaxillary strut. Certainly they can be lost in<br />

that the peculiar maniraptoran Erlikosaurus andrewsi (PST 1001<br />

11 1; Clark et al., 1994) apparently lacks both promaxillary and<br />

maxillary fenestrae. The situation gets worse when taxa such<br />

as Torvosaurus tanneri (Jensen, 1985; Britt, 1991) and Ceratosaurus<br />

nasicornis (USNM 4735) are considered; in both,<br />

there are no distinct fenestrae at all, despite having a deep recess<br />

in the area. Absence <strong>of</strong> maxillary accessory cavities (i.e.,<br />

sinuses) <strong>of</strong> any kind in coelophysids (see above) and some other<br />

forms (such as the abelisauroid Noasaurus leali; Bonaparte,<br />

1991a) are further evidence <strong>of</strong> homoplasy in the system.<br />

To summarize this discussion <strong>of</strong> theropod maxillary recesses,<br />

three relatively discrete systems are found in at least higher<br />

theropods. The promaxillary recess and maxillary antrum are<br />

widely distributed among neotetanurans, but the excavatio<br />

pneukatica presently is known only in some allosauroids and<br />

Ceratosaurus nasicornis. Fenestration <strong>of</strong> the maxilla has been<br />

an important character in theropod classification (Gauthier,<br />

1986; Holtz, 1994; Sereno et al., 1994, 1996), but needs revision<br />

and clarification. The basal theropods Eoraptor lunensis<br />

(PVSJ 512; Sereno et al., 1993) and Herrerasaurus ischigualastensis<br />

(PVSJ 407; Sereno and Novas, 1994) plesiomorphically<br />

appear to lack maxillary recesses <strong>of</strong> any kind, and thus<br />

the appearance <strong>of</strong> such sinuses is a neotheropodan synapomorphy.<br />

The issue is which recess appeared at the level <strong>of</strong> Neotheropoda.<br />

Available evidence would suggest that the promaxillary<br />

recess and fenestra appeared first, and that the maxillary

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