The muscle-powered bite of Allosaurus (Dinosauria; Theropoda): an interpretation of cranio-dental morphology

Abstract

The skull morphology of Allosaurus has been the subject of functional interpretations which imply a predatory behaviour radically different from that recorded in any predatory land vertebrate. Those interpretations imply the use of the skull and maxillary dentition as analogues of hand-held, man-made weapons, incorporating the inertia of the predator's dash toward prey to add to the effect of the impact, and using wide jaw gapes as a way to keep the mandible out of the way of such blows. We re-interpret the evident adaptations for gape and for recruitment of neck muscles in head depression of Allosaurus in terms of a muscle-powered bite directed at surfaces with moderate convexity, such as the bodies of very large pres. In our model, the forces leading to penetration of the teeth are generated in the context of the opposition between the maxillary and the mandible. This interpretation allows us to incorporate al1 the observed adaptations of the Allosaurus skull, while avoiding the problems created by previous models.