Rui Tahara
Rui Tahara

For my Master’s thesis, I am looking at the cranial pneumaticity of bird-like dinosaurs. In that the skeletal is controlled by the sinuses, the pneumatization of surrounding bone and its osteological correlates are important features of the morphological diversification of archosaurs. Therefore, the pneumaticity in archosaurs, and in particular the shared pneumatic features between crocodilians and birds, has been an important field of research. However, there are few researches that have discussed the cranial sinuses in detail to compare their evolutionary trends in archosaurs due to difficulties of looking at the internal skull morphology until recently. Recently, non-destructive CT scanning has been able to reveal the cranial cavity in fossil and extant taxa. The reconstruction of bird-like dinosaur skulls by CT scanning should show the common features of the pneumaticity of crocodiles and birds.

Office: Room 302, Redpath Museum
Email: rui.taharamail.mcgill.ca
Phone: (514) 398-4086 ext 00221
Fax: (514) 398-3185

 

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