Epipophysis

Skull and cervical spine of the abelisaurid theropod Carnotaurus . The clearly visible, extremely enlarged epipophyses form the highest point of the cervical vertebrae in this species.

Epipophyses (eng. Epipophyses ) are bony outgrowths of the cervical vertebrae in dinosaurs and some basal (original) birds . These paired processes are located on the top of the postzygapophyses - those vertebral processes on the back of the vertebrae that articulate with the vertebra following it backwards. Their shape varies from small, hill-like elevations to large, intricately built wings. Epipophyses serve to enlarge the attachment surface of various neck muscles - large epipophyses consequently indicate a strong development of these muscles.

Epipophyses are regarded as a jointly derived feature ( synapomorphism ) of the dinosaurs - this feature was thus present in the most basic (most original) dinosaurs, but was missing in the forerunners of the dinosaurs, such as Marasuchus or Silesaurus . Although they were a typical feature of most groups of dinosaurs, they were lost in various derived (advanced) groups of theropods due to the increasing curvature of the neck.

literature

• Stephen L. Brusatte: Dinosaur Paleobiology . 1st edition. Wiley, J, New York, NY 2012, ISBN 978-0-470-65658-7 , pp. 14 .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Philip J. Currie: Theropoda . In: Philip J. Currie, Kevin Padian (Eds.): Encyclopedia of dinosaurs . Acad. Press, 1997, ISBN 0-12-226810-5 , pp. 734 .