The maxillary canal of the titanosuchid dinocephalianJonkeriais described based on digitised serial sections. We highlight that its morphology is more like that of the tapinocephalidMoschognathusthan that ofAnteosaurus. This is unexpected given the similarities between the dentition ofJonkeriaandAnteosaurus(i.e., presence of a canine) and the fact that the branching pattern of the maxillary canal in synapsids usually co-varies with dentition. Hypotheses to account for similarities betweenJonkeriaandMoschognathus(common ancestry, function in social signalling or underwater sensing) are discussed. It is likely that the maxillary canal carries a strong phylogenetic signal, here supporting the clade Tapinocephalia.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00114-023-01853-w.