{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,30]],"date-time":"2026-09-30T10:53:28Z","timestamp":1790765608566,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":50,"publisher":"PeerJ","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2019,5,22]],"date-time":"2019-05-22T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1558483200000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"DAAD and CAPES program with funding provided by CAPES","award":["BEX 3474\/09-7"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["BEX 3474\/09-7"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"abstract":"<jats:p>\n                    Rhynchosauria is a group of archosauromorph reptiles abundant in terrestrial ecosystems of the Middle Triassic.\n                    <jats:italic>Mesosuchus<\/jats:italic>\n                    is one of the earliest and basalmost rhynchosaurs, playing an important role not only for the understanding of the evolution of the group as a whole, but also of archosauromorphs in general. The braincase of\n                    <jats:italic>Mesosuchus<\/jats:italic>\n                    has been previously described, albeit not in detail, and the middle and inner ears were missing. Here, we provide new information based on micro-computed tomography scanning of the best-preserved specimen of\n                    <jats:italic>Mesosuchus<\/jats:italic>\n                    , SAM-PK-6536. Contrary to what has been stated previously, the braincase of\n                    <jats:italic>Mesosuchus<\/jats:italic>\n                    is dorso-ventrally tall. The trigeminal foramen lies in a deep recess on the prootic whose flat ventral rim could indicate the articulation surface to the laterosphenoid, although no such element was found. The middle ear of\n                    <jats:italic>Mesosuchus<\/jats:italic>\n                    shows a small and deeply recessed fenestra ovalis, with the right stapes preserved in situ. It has a rather stout, imperforated and posteriorly directed shaft with a small footplate. These features suggest that the ear of\n                    <jats:italic>Mesosuchus<\/jats:italic>\n                    was well-suited for the detection of low-frequency sounds. The semicircular canals are slender and elongate and the floccular fossa is well-developed. This is indicative of a refined mechanism for gaze stabilization, which is usually related to non-sprawling postures. The most striking feature of the\n                    <jats:italic>Mesosuchus<\/jats:italic>\n                    braincase is, however, the presence of a pneumatic sinus in the basal tubera. The sinus is identified as originating from the pharyngotympanic system, implying ossified Eustachian tubes. Braincase pneumatization has not yet been a recognized feature of stem-archosaurs, but the potential presence of pneumatic foramina in an array of taxa, recognized here as such for the first time, suggests braincase sinuses could be present in many other archosauromorphs.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.7717\/peerj.6798","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2019,5,22]],"date-time":"2019-05-22T04:08:07Z","timestamp":1558498087000},"page":"e6798","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":26,"title":["The braincase of\n                    <i>Mesosuchus browni<\/i>\n                    (Reptilia, Archosauromorpha) with information on the inner ear and description of a pneumatic sinus"],"prefix":"10.7717","volume":"7","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5001-4406","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Gabriela","family":"Sobral","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Staatliches Museum f\u00fcr Naturkunde Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5801-856X","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Johannes","family":"M\u00fcller","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Museum f\u00fcr Naturkunde Berlin, Leibniz-Institut f\u00fcr Evolutions- und Biodiversit\u00e4tsforschung, Berlin, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"4443","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2019,5,22]]},"reference":[{"key":"10.7717\/peerj.6798\/ref-1","first-page":"1","article-title":"The chondrocranium and the development of the skull in recent reptiles","volume-title":"Biology of the Reptilia","volume":"11","author":"Bellairs","year":"1981"},{"issue":"1112","key":"10.7717\/peerj.6798\/ref-2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"605","DOI":"10.1098\/rstb.1983.0079","article-title":"The Triassic reptile Hyperodapedon from Elgin: functional morphology and 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