#Cycnorhamphus

[justgoji]

Recolors of Dimorphodon macronyx and Cycnorhamphus suevicus. I was gonna recolor Hatzegopteryx too but I decided against it.

With Hatsune Miku for scale:

[bookrat]

Cycnorhamphus

[preventthetoast]

me when cycnorhamphus

shes so cute.... what do i say to her?

[serpentariusart]

So it seems that I do really love drawing pterosaurs. It’s so much fun. Names of them: Harpactognathus - Cycnorhamphus - Caviramus Hamipterus - Zhenyuanopterus

[saritawolff]

#Archovember Day 20 - Cycnorhamphus suevicus

Cycnorhamphus was a seagull-sized pterosaur with... a lot going on in the face area. It had peg-like teeth at the very tips of its jaws, a downward arc on its bottom jaw, and two soft-tissue structures on either side of its top jaw that fit into the bottom notch. It’s unknown what these adaptations were for, but it’s suggested that they may have worked as a sort of nutcracker for crushing mollusks.

However, some believe that the larger Cycnorhamphus specimen known as the “Painten Pelican” was a deformed individual, and these animals would otherwise have standard pterosaur jaws. This is countered with the argument that smaller, straighter-jawed specimens may be juveniles, and Cycnorhamphus would develop its weird bumps and curves as it matured.

[alphynix]

Cycnorhamphus suevicus, a pterosaur from the Late Jurassic of Germany and France (~150-145 mya).

It had a wingspan of about 1.3m (4′3″), and was originally thought to look similar to Pterodactylus with long straight jaws -- but a well-preserved fossil nicknamed “the Painten Pelican” revealed its snout was actually much more oddly-shaped.

"Painten Pelican mount" by Mike Steele | CC BY 2.0 | cropped from original

It turns out Cycnorhamphus’s jaws arced outwards, creating an opening that seems to have become more pronounced as individuals reached adulthood. Soft-tissue impressions in the fossil also show some sort of stiff “flanges” on each side of the upper jaws, covering the gap and giving it a sort of bulldog-like appearance.

The function of this jaw structure is unknown for certain, but it’s been speculated to be a specialization for cracking open hard-shelled prey like molluscs.

[saritawolff]

Some were scavengers.

(Art of Istiodactylus latidens by Gabriel Ugueto)

Some had unbelievable ornamentation.

(Art of Thalassodromeus sethi by Rudolf Hima)

(Art of Nyctosaurus gracilis by Julio Lacerda)

(Art of Cycnorhamphus suevicus by Chris Masnaghetti)

All of them were fuzzy.

Yet the media depiction of a “pterodactyl” tends to to be a shaved, toothed Pteranodon with the long tail of a Rhamphorhynchus.

Which is incredibly unfair to such a diverse, widespread clade. It’s like representing all mammals as some sort of hairless lion with a platypus beak and rat tail. And saying “This is my favorite reptile: the Mammali.”

(Pretend I felt like drawing the above hypothetical creature and put it here.)

Anyway, this is certainly not to mock people who say “Pterodactyl is my favorite dinosaur”, I just want to educate. Because it’s so unfair that this information is not more readily known cause pterosaurs are so cool! More people deserve to know Cool Things!

So yeah, what’s your favorite pterosaur? Mine’s probably Kunpengopterus but the azhdarchids are growing on me.

[huxley-paleozoo]

Django the Cycnorhamphus

Name: Django

Species: Cycnorhamphus suevicus*

Description: Cycnorhamphus, even by pterosaur standards, is weird. Originally thought to have a long straight beak (going off juvenile fossils), a new fossil shows its skull was much stranger. Not only did it have a large crest on the top of the head, two soft-tissue projections jut out of the upper jaw, and the lower jaw in turn curves. The teeth are peglike and restricted to the very, very front of the beak. Being one of many pterosaurs from late Jurassic Germany, this probably implies a specialized diet compared to other pterosaurs - perhaps hard-shelled food.

Location: Django is one of the many shore pterosaurs that lives in the Solnhofen Aviary, part of the Jurassic section of the Aquarium.

Fun Fact: The D is silent.

Personality & History: Django is, so far, our only Cycnorhamphus. The first Cycnorhamphus genome was pretty buggy, and as a result, only the wing finger properly developed on his left hand. He seems to get around fine with it. Django tends to isolate himself from the other pterosaurs, particularly the other Ctenochasmatoids. This doesn’t apply to the Rhamphorhynchus sisters, though. He often spends time near them, and in turn, Django is the only other pterosaur the Rhamphorhynchus won’t try to chase away.

Django likes altitude. We’ve observed him trying to climb on the ledges of the aviary’s framework, with mixed results. Even with one hand incompletely developed, he’s got a pretty good grip. He often tries standing on keepers’ heads when they enter the aviary. In response, we built him a special roosting platform near the top of the aviary, and he spends much of his time there, judging the other pterosaurs.

As with all the other pterosaurs in the aviary, Django has a special diet. This includes hard-shelled organisms, including mussels and snails, but also softer foods like worms, fish, and even the occasional jellyfish! For hard-shelled food, he holds the shell on his lower jaw, using his right hand to position it, and uses the upper jaw projections to cleave it open.

[jwood719]

The Ubiquity of the Starbucks (self-portrait with streetscape in a museum window) R. Jake Wood, 2021.

Yep, there’s a Starbucks in that scene -- in the white building center back.

The Carnegie Museum of Art: Pieces and Other Things

Besides just re-visiting the Grand Staircase and The Crowning of Labor at the Carnegie Museums, I also spent some time wandering through the art museum, ‘cause why not?  There’s either works I haven’t seen, or works to see again – either way, time’s usually well spent in a museum.  I hadn’t figured on taking any photos while wandering, but that was a silly thought; there’s almost always something that will prompt me to lift the camera and snap off a shot or three.  

When the architects were planning the museum’s staircase and sculpture courtyard -- with trees -- did they imagine the intersecting and convergent lines that would result when one viewed it all “just so?”  Maybe, maybe not, but it worked for me so I took some photos.

I was also caught by the juxtaposition of this bronze, Night by Aristide Maillol (1939), a curvy figure set in a world of straight lines.  Yep, I get artsy, too, sometimes.  

I like the “ah I see what you did there” moments that curators will set-up, ostensibly for educational purposes, I’m sure -- but I like to imagine them thinking “Let’s just see who actually notices this.”  Here:

Mrs. Trevor by George Romney, 1779-80

and:

Terpsichore, Muse of Lyric Poetry by Antonio Canova, 1812 (plaster model).

I mean, it’s obvious, right?

Canova’s Terpsichore is, according to the accompanying placard, exemplar of the Neoclassical style -- as is the portrait of Mrs. Trevor.  They were positioned intentionally, but I wonder just who actually catches on.

Besides taking photos of the art, I also returned to doing something I haven’t done for some time (because covid): taking photos of people looking at art, or taking photos of art.

Visitors with van Gogh’s Wheat Fields After the Rain (The Plain of Auvers).

And from my visit to the Natural History Museum in July: a visitor with the Pterosaur (Cycnorhamphus) Flock.

Photos: R. Jake Wood, 2021.

Carnegie Museum of Art website

[preventthetoast]

my two favorite pterosaur crests are cycnorhamphus

and Pterodactylus's weird crest/horn thingy:

Pterosaur update:

The wing structure is good, and the prototype was all snug and clean. The next step is determining the body structure and how the wing will rotate in the shoulder. I found this ball and socket technique to work nicely and provide a good range of movement for the wings.

I haven't picked what particular pterosaur species to sculpt yet, if you have any good recommendations on one please let me know. I'm looking for one with a good head crest future.

[justgoji]

Cycnorhamphus suevicus. Sorry this one isn’t that good, I was very tired when I made it.

With Hatsune Miku for scale:

[geminibullworld]

Prehistoric Information- Cycnorhamphus

[si-nequal-is]

Cycnorhamphus sketch.