phytosaur braincases

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Attention all those who have phytosaurs with their braincases,
	As I have been taking a close look at the phytosaurs here at the Texas
Tech Museum, I have noticed a rather unusual and somewhat unnatural trend.  All
of our specimens exceot one (Paleorhinus scurriensis have their occipital
condyle positioned such that it's pointing nearly straight down, more akin to
the human position than the thecodonts and other archosaurs such as the
crocodilians.  Such an orientation of the condyle does not make much sense for a
quadrapedal animal.  I would blame this one distortion, but some of our fossils
are in pretty good shape and mostly uncrushed.
	I'm not looking for theories right now.  All I want you to do is take a
good look at the occipital condyles of your phytosaurs if you have any.  Are
they also pointing down?

Eric Simpson
Texas Tech Uiversity: Dept. of Geosciences
Box 1053
Lubbock, TX  79409-1053
76653,1410@compuserve.com