Dilophosaurus' crests

[Bucklander]

About five years ago, I was looking at/contemplating a painting of Dilophosaurus, when I was struck by an idea...

"Dilophosaurus' crests were sensory organs!"

I first wondered whether they might have been mechanical receptors - detecting air currents (direction, force, temperature, humidity etc.). Then it occurred to me, they may have been olfactory receptors. My thought was that they may either have contained, or have been covered with soft tissue containing scent receptors, essentially an extension of the nasal passages.

It seemed that such an idea would perhaps be fairly easy to test - CAT scans of the skull, should reveal the chambers and/or channels for necessary nerves and blood vessels. If the crests were completely solid, my idea would have been just a nice bit of fantasy, but if such spaces did exist, there existence would lend credibility to my theory. Not only that, but their origins and orientations should be somewhat predictable.

I fell in love with the idea of Dilophosaurus having an extremely sensitive STEREOSCOPIC sense of smell, but I didn't know who to talk to about it. This was a few years before I joined this forum. Also, I decided that, such an obvious idea must have been considered many times by many others. And as it's never mentioned, it must have been discarded. just another rubbish thought. I tried to put it out of my mind and focus on other, more important things.

But every now and then it would rise up, troubling me. Why have I never heard of this before? Even rejected ideas get discussed, yet I have never come across this idea, ever, anywhere. Is it necessarily, obviously untrue? What if, what if there is something to it? So I bring it to the forum for discussion. I haven't the expertise to decide for myself. What do you all think? Just a silly idea? Or might it be worthy of investigation? If so, who would be the best people to suggest it to?

[PaleoMatt]

I thought it was solid bone though.

[BlueKrono]

Do we know that though? Better call up Jack Horner and his bone saws.

[PaleoMatt]

Do we know that though? Better call up Jack Horner and his bone saws.

HAHA lol.

[Reptilia]

I don't know how much plausible but it certainly is an interesting theory. Much more intriguing than the common consensus that Dilophosaurus crests were just for display purposes.

[irimali]

I don't want to be a buzzkill but i have some doubts, at least about the possibility of Dilophosaurus's crests being covered by sensitive soft tissue.  If it were, there'd probably be small openings on the skull along the base of the crests for nerves and blood vessels. 

[stargatedalek]

I don't want to be a buzzkill but i have some doubts, at least about the possibility of Dilophosaurus's crests being covered by sensitive soft tissue.  If it were, there'd probably be small openings on the skull along the base of the crests for nerves and blood vessels.

This. They certainly weren't used for smell as that would display very clear evidence. Though I suppose it's possible the skin on them may have sensed humidity or wind conditions, albeit still highly unlikely.

[Halichoeres]

That's a fun hypothesis, which should be testable at least in principle. If I'm reading your proposal correctly, there are two versions of the olfaction hypothesis:
A. the outer surface of the crests bear some sort of chemoreceptor, producing external surface area for olfaction.
B. the crests represent an elaboration of the nasal passages, expanding the interior surface for olfaction.

A strikes me as really unlikely. I don't know any terrestrial vertebrate which bears significant numbers of chemoreceptors on any exterior surface (though things like catfish are just coated with tastebuds all over). That might suggest that they need a moist environment to function properly.

B is at least possible, and a CT scan of the crest could reveal whether the interior of the crest communicates directly with the nasal passages, as has been demonstrated in hadrosaurs. The crest of Coelophysis kayentakatae is pneumatized, so Dilophosaurus's probably was too, but if it didn't have a strong direct connection to the nares, that would suggest it's pneumatized only for the sake of being lightweight. I don't know if anybody has bothered to look at the inside of Dilophosaurus's crest.