Reconstrucciones tridimensionales de cráneos de cocodrilos en el 1st IMERP-XIV EJIP

Entre los trabajos presentados en el I IMERP/ XIV EJIP que tuvo lugar la semana pasada en la localidad de Alpuente (Valencia), nuestro compañero Alejandro Serrano dio una charla sobre la reconstrucción tridimensional de las cavidades contenidas dentro del cráneo de los cocodrilos.

Durante su presentación, Alejandro explicó los pasos seguidos para llevar a cabo las reconstrucciones, así como las diferencias entre las cavidades presentadas por los dos grandes grupos de cocodrilos que han llegado a la actualidad, alligatoroideos y crocodiloideos. Además, se expusieron las razones por las cuales es idóneo empezar estos estudios, en los que la bibliografía previa es escasa, por los miembros actuales del grupo.

Os dejamos con el abstract del trabajo:

It is usually assumed that endocranial cavities are conservative structures and would present phylogenetical signal. The destruction risk of unique specimens hampered the study of its neuroanatomy until the apparition of non-invasive techniques, like Computerized Tomography (CT-scan). The X-ray scanner detects the difference of density and represents it as a set of greyscale images. This methodology allows to obtain easily information of the inner cavities, and, most important, reduce the risk of breakage of the studied specimen.

The crocodylian brain is a structure quite well studied historically thanks to necropsies. However, there are only a few works deepening on their inner cavities, and studying the neuroanatomy of extinct specimens. The opportunity of studying the cavities and its content in extant specimens is the perfect starting point to extrapolate and understand the structures showed by their fossil relatives. Herein, CT-scans are used to study these inner cavities (brain, cranial nerves, blood vessels and inner and middle-ear recesses) of two extant taxa of well-known crocodylians: the alligatorid Alligator mississippiensis, and the crocodylid Crocodilus niloticus. Furthermore, comparing reconstructions of both taxa, some remarkable differences have been found in the shape of the brain and the tympanic recesses that may be useful in cladistics analyses.

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Referencia:

• Serrano-Martínez, A., Ortega, F., Knoll, F. 2016. Extant crocodylians as initial models for the endocast evolution analyses in Eusuchia, and neuroanatomical differences among crocodylia clades. New perspectives on the Evolution of Phanerozoic Biotas and Ecosystems (XIV EJIP Abstract book), 189.

Imagen:

• Alejandro Serrano durante su comunicación en el XIV EJIP, en una fotografía tomada en esta ocasión por Daniel Vidal. Muchísimas gracias.