PALEO200 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Paleontology
Document Summary
Invertebrates: include insects, spiders, snails, squids, clams, jellyfish and (cid:449)or(cid:373)s; si(cid:374)(cid:272)e the origi(cid:374) of a(cid:374)i(cid:373)al life, there(cid:859)s (cid:271)ee(cid:374) (cid:449)ay (cid:373)ore i(cid:374)(cid:448)erte(cid:271)rates than vertebrates. The skull is made up of many bones that are tightly locked together; it can gi(cid:448)e a paleo(cid:374)tologist great i(cid:374)sight i(cid:374)to a di(cid:374)o(cid:859)s life. By examining the teeth of the dino, we can tell what it eats. Dino skulls also have multiple pairs of large openings. Fe(cid:374)estrae aka (cid:858)(cid:449)i(cid:374)do(cid:449)s(cid:859): additio(cid:374)al skull ope(cid:374)i(cid:374)g; there are (cid:1006) fe(cid:374)estrae whose main function is to provide more room for the jaw muscles: laterotemporal fenestrae, supratemporal fenestrae. A(cid:374)tor(cid:271)ital fe(cid:374)estrae, (cid:449)hose fu(cid:374)(cid:272)tio(cid:374) is u(cid:374)(cid:272)lear, (cid:271)ut it(cid:859)s thought to make skulls lighter/housed large sinus cavities that helped warm the air that di(cid:374)o(cid:859)s (cid:271)reathed. Brain case: located in the rear portion of the skull, the brain case is a hollow chamber formed by multiple skull bones that houses the brain.