Postorbital bone

The postorbital of a duck embryo fusing with the frontal during development.

A skull diagram ofDromaeosaurus,adromaeosauriddinosaur.The postorbital is colored dark blue.

Thepostorbitalis one of the bones invertebrateskulls which forms a portion of the dermalskull roofand, sometimes, a ring about the orbit. Generally, it is located behind thepostfrontaland posteriorly to theorbital fenestra.In some vertebrates, the postorbital is fused with the postfrontal to create a postorbitofrontal. Birds have a separate postorbital as anembryo,but the bone fuses with thefrontalbefore it hatches.

References

• Roemer, A. S. 1956.Osteology of the Reptiles.University of Chicago Press. 772 pp.