Prefrontal bone

Dromaeosaurus skull.

The prefrontal bone is a bone separating the lacrimal and frontal bones in many tetrapod skulls. It first evolved in the sarcopterygian clade Rhipidistia, which includes lungfish and the Tetrapodomorpha.[1] The prefrontal is found in most modern and extinct lungfish, amphibians and reptiles. The prefrontal is lost in early mammaliaforms and so is not present in modern mammals either.[2]

  1. ^ Cloutier, Richard; Ahlberg, Per E. (1996). "Morphology, characters, and the interrelationships of basal sarcopterygians". In Stiassny, Melanie L.J.; Parenti, Lynn R.; Johnson, G. David (eds.). Interrelationships of Fishes. San Diego: Academic Press. pp. 445–479. ISBN 978-0-12-670951-3.
  2. ^ "Mammaliformes". Palaeos: The Trace of Life on Earth. Archived from the original on 2008-06-04. Retrieved 2008-01-25.