albertonykus

[albertonykus]

This fishing anime sure knows how to hook the zoology nerds.

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Following up from last year, it looks like this year's Doraemon film is getting released in Australia (and New Zealand) again (this time on August 7, Nobita's birthday). Maybe this will be a recurring thing from now on?!

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Recent discussions on the Dinosaur Mailing List be like

(Yes, the Dinosaur Mailing List still exists, or more precisely, a new incarnation of it called the Dinosaur Mailing Group or DMG was founded when it became known that the original would cease operations.)

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I'm liking the number of Laid-Back Camp references in Bocchi the Rock!

(The "insult to camping" comment is ironic because I think Laid-Back Camp does a good job of being non-judgmental about the different ways people enjoy camping. RV camping? Backyard camping? Anything goes as long as you stay safe and are considerate of others.)

The fact that there's an official Nijika cover of the Laid-Back Camp season 1 opening song is nothing short of incredible.

(Also, it's funny that Nijika canonically claims to be bad at singing when every Nijika song is a certified banger.)

[albertonykus]

SPOILERS FOR NOBITA'S DIARY ON THE CREATION OF THE WORLD

In the English translation of the Doraemon manga, the bee people who appear at the end of Nobita's Diary on the Creation of the World gave themselves the scientific name Homo sabees. I find this puzzling...

...because in the Japanese version, their name was Homo habeelis, which would have still worked for an English-speaking audience and is a much better pun!

(I'll overlook the fact that in our taxonomy, humans and bees would not share the same genus, sapient or not. After all, we don't know what scientific name the bees use for humans.)

In general, the English translations for scientific terms in the Doraemon manga leave something to be desired. For example...

(In the Japanese version, Dsungaripterus is correctly called a pterosaur and not a "flying dino". Tuojiangosaurus is also said to be the most complete stegosaur known from Asia, not the most complete fossil of any kind.)

[albertonykus]

Yep, this is right!

Pennaraptoran Wings, Pt II

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Another anatomical “nitpick” I’ve been wondering about, are the primary wing feathers attached near the base of the claw at the end of the finger (top), or are they only attached on the second phalange (bottom)

I’ve always imagined it as the top, I based this off of ostrich and hoatzin wings, where the feathers attach near the base of the claw, as well as fossils of Archaeopteryx and Zhenyuanlong, which on the surface look like this.

However someone else pointed out to me that bird primary feathers attach to the second phalanx, and it should logically be the same in other Pennaraptorans

Matt Martyniuk ‘s Field Guide says the primaries attach “to the first few phalanges”

[albertonykus]

There are only three phalanges in the second finger, the third being the claw-bearing ungual. In your top schematic, the outermost primaries would be attached to the second phalanx (the one before the claw), whereas in the lower one, they would be attached to the first phalanx. The innermost primaries attach to the second metacarpal (palm bone) in either case.

Pennaraptoran Wings, Pt II

@albertonykus

Another anatomical “nitpick” I’ve been wondering about, are the primary wing feathers attached near the base of the claw at the end of the finger (top), or are they only attached on the second phalange (bottom)

I’ve always imagined it as the top, I based this off of ostrich and hoatzin wings, where the feathers attach near the base of the claw, as well as fossils of Archaeopteryx and Zhenyuanlong, which on the surface look like this.

However someone else pointed out to me that bird primary feathers attach to the second phalanx, and it should logically be the same in other Pennaraptorans

Matt Martyniuk ‘s Field Guide says the primaries attach “to the first few phalanges”

[albertonykus]

To start off, I think you mean "first phalanx" when you say "second phalanx". Phalanges are numbered starting from the base of each digit, so the first phalanx is the one that attaches directly to the palm of the hand.

The answer to your question though is that the primary feathers in modern birds do not end at the first phalanx of the second finger. The outermost one or two primaries in most birds attach to the second phalanx, as you've observed in hoatzins and as Martyniuk correctly describes. This arrangement is shown pretty clearly in the illustration below from Wray (1887). In ostriches, which have a larger number of primaries than most other birds, the second phalanx bears three primaries.

(Interesting side note: if you look carefully, you might notice that one primary actually attaches to the third instead of the second finger. Perhaps that's one reason why most modern birds have retained that little nubbin of a third finger.)

In fossil pennaraptorans with preserved feathers, it can be difficult to determine exactly where the feathers attach relative to the skeleton, but Mayr et al. (2007) interpreted the second phalanx of the second finger in Archaeopteryx as having three primaries (despite having a total primary count within the range of modern flying birds), with the outermost primary attaching roughly halfway down the length of that phalanx.

Long story short, both extant bird anatomy and fossil evidence suggest that the typical condition in pennaraptorans is for the outermost primaries to attach pretty close to the base of the second hand claw (which is borne by the third and final phalanx of the second finger).

Pennaraptoran Wings, Pt II

@albertonykus

Another anatomical “nitpick” I’ve been wondering about, are the primary wing feathers attached near the base of the claw at the end of the finger (top), or are they only attached on the second phalange (bottom)

I’ve always imagined it as the top, I based this off of ostrich and hoatzin wings, where the feathers attach near the base of the claw, as well as fossils of Archaeopteryx and Zhenyuanlong, which on the surface look like this.

However someone else pointed out to me that bird primary feathers attach to the second phalanx, and it should logically be the same in other Pennaraptorans

Matt Martyniuk ‘s Field Guide says the primaries attach “to the first few phalanges”

[albertonykus]

The front cover for Paleocene #5, currently in progress.

Want to know when it’s available? Join the Keesey Comics Mailing List!

[albertonykus]

This will be a quick, relaxing piece to work on—oh shoot oh no musical instruments are really hard to draw ow help I made a poor decision

It was a bit unexpected to see Shizuka assigned to percussion in Nobita's Earth Symphony, considering that she was already known to play the piano and violin (albeit badly in the case of the latter), but it gives me an excuse to draw her jamming with Nijika from Bocchi the Rock! so I'm not complaining. Coincidentally, both of them have birthdays in May; guess I should've finished this two months ago...

[albertonykus]

The premise of this year's upcoming Doraemon birthday special looks very fun, but the most interesting thing (to me) is that we're getting Shizuka as a secret agent in a spy movie?! I wonder if that's an intentional homage to "Shizuka's Spy Operation" from the 1979 anime series!

[albertonykus]

The first page from PALEOCENE #5. Sixty-six million years ago, our tiny primate ancestors survived an asteroid impact that killed off most life on Earth. What happened next?

Find out! Support the crowdfunding campaign: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/keesey/paleocene-5-comic-book?ref=cescdw

[albertonykus]

Looking for more original stories about prehistoric animals? How about a post-apocalyptic tale about our primate ancestors trying to survive after the end-Cretaceous mass extinction? The second-to-last issue of @tmkeesey's Paleocene comic has only 1 week left to get funded on Kickstarter, so please consider supporting!

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Double-page spread of extra artwork for PALEOCENE #5. This shows a multi-species band of primatomorphs fending off a pack of stem-carnivorans.

The Kickstarter is in its final stretch! Have a look at the video:

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Me: What if Shizuka were the main character of Doraemon so she could live a better life?

Takopi's Original Sin: What if Shizuka were the main character of Doraemon and her life was so much worse???

[albertonykus]

Watching papers on megatheropods come out be like:

This is why I study microtheropods, a field where absolutely zero drama occurs.

(Blazing inferno? Where?)

[albertonykus]

The first page from PALEOCENE #5. Sixty-six million years ago, our tiny primate ancestors survived an asteroid impact that killed off most life on Earth. What happened next?

Find out! Support the crowdfunding campaign: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/keesey/paleocene-5-comic-book?ref=cescdw