#darwinopterus

[railroadatrox]

DRAGONS OF THE MESOZOIC

I got commissioned to design a pterosaur back tattoo, and decided to use the opportunity to redraw my original dragons of the Mesozoic design.

[dryptosaurusghost]

Some dragons from my setting alcove, they're the ghosts of prehistoric animals.

left to right

Depths of the Tower- Quetzalcoatlus

Hallowed Old Pine- Deinonychus

Sundog- Darwinopterus

[charseraph]

@tickflea @dimespin @jayrockin

[anyonghalimaw]

hi everyone while its not exactly Urgent having more money wldnt hurt so im selling these pterosaur designs for 12 usd each.

willing to put on hold for 1 week max. dm here or on toyhouse to claim!

[cypressure]

this year's holiday card: merry christmas from Darwinopterus!

[macronecteshalli]

Ptwo Ptoothy Pterosaurs

An Artfight defense against https://artfight.net/~jayrockin and https://artfight.net/~Cat-Dragron

Not super happy with this but now that it's done I can finally move on!

[serpentariusart]

Attack #3 for @jayrockin

[fangtalksdragons]

From last night's improve #paleostream #PaleoPines style Deinocheirus Meganeura Anzu Darwinopterus

[neovenatorgirlteeth]

AAA NOW IM BEHIND ON THIS ONE AS WELL!!!! FUCK!!! Im fixing that this week. 1 post everyday Tue-Sun i'll be caught up.

DINOVEMBER DAY 13: 160MYA, OXFORDIAN STAGE; LIAONING, CHINA.

In a lush, forested corner of the world that will one day become Northern China, flying animals flit across the surface of a lake formed in a volcanic caldera. There are insects, dragonflies and stoneflies and mayflies, who have been airborne for 160 million years, and for a long time were the undisputed rulers of the skies. However, they have been usurped. A pair of Darwinopterus chase them across the water; these are pterosaurs, a group of flying reptiles that arose in the late Triassic, 60 million years prior. The pterosaurs, with their muscular wing membrane stretching from their ankles to the tip of their long 4th finger, have become one of the most successful group of flying animals in the Earth's history; but they themselves now have a competitor.

By the side of the lake is a dinosaur. She is small and covered in feathers, which are not unusual traits among dinosaurs, given the massive diversity they have achieved by the middle Jurassic. The wicked sickle claw on her innermost toe is stranger, a marker of her place in the dinosaur family tree as a eumaniraptoran, small predators colloquially called raptors. Most importantly, however, she is a powered glider.

This is Anchiornis, and she moves around the treetops of the forest using the wings on her arms and legs composed of specialised feathers. Unlike the various small gliding lizards and mammals, she can flap her arms to generate small amounts of upward force, and in 10 million years time her ancestors will be capable of full on powered flight. They will then loose their exposed hands and long bony tails, and their toothy snouts will be replaced with beaks, until they rival the pterosaurs for a place in the air. At some point along this evolutionary line, they will start to to be called birds.

[moochingvanze]

some recent paleoarts I made (the sketches in the third pic are drawn without references) First one are two Darwinopterus, second is a Quetzalcoatlus with speculative crest and some juveniles around him

[saritapaleo]

Archovember 2024 Day 1 - My Choice: Caihong juji

Continuing my theme of choosing dinosaurs we know the colors of, my choice for day 1 of Archovember this year is Caihong juji!

Caihong was an Anchiornithid from Late Jurassic China. It was relatively small, estimated at 40 cm (16 inches) long, with a wingspan of approximately 44 cm (17 in), and weighing 475 grams (16.8 oz). It could be distinguished from its cousins and contemporaries Eosinopteryx and Anchiornis by the longer pennaceous feathers on its forelimbs, hindlimbs, and tail. Caihong was covered almost entirely in feathers, with only the snout and claws uncovered. Like Anchiornis, Caihong’s feathers were so well-preserved that the melanosomes could be analyzed, and interpreted as iridescent black. The platelet-like melanosomes on its head, chest, and base of the tail were similar to those found in the shimmering feathers of modern trumpeters (genus Psophia). Its feather coat was also very thick, with a silky or shaggy appearance, and a ruff of longer feathers around the neck.

Caihong was likely less common than Anchiornis, as only one specimen has been found so far. Like other anchiornithids, it was probably a carnivore, hunting arthropods and other small animals in the underbrush. Also like Anchiornis, it most likely wasn’t a strong flier, instead using its shimmering plumage for display.

The Tiaojishan Formation was subtropical to temperate, warm and humid, and dominated by gymnosperm trees like ginkgopsids (including Ginkgo), conifers, cycads, and ferns. Caihong would have lived in these Late Jurassic forests with fellow anchiornithids Anchiornis, Aurornis, Serikornis, Xiaotingia, and Eosinopteryx, as well as the bizarrely-winged scansoriopterygids Yi and Scansoriopteryx. Pterosaurs were also common here, including Changchengopterus, Darwinopterus, Wukongopterus, and the small, nocturnal anurognathids Cascocauda, Sinomacrops, and Luopterus. Oddly enough, this formation known for small, flying things also included the earliest known gliding mammal: Volaticotherium antiquum.

(I was unsure what the consensus is on the lacrimal crests and sickle claw, so here is another version 🙃)

This art may be used for educational purposes, with credit, but please contact me first for permission before using my art. I would like to know where and how it is being used. If you don’t have something to add that was not already addressed in this caption, please do not repost this art. Thank you!

[railroadatrox]

DRAGONS

Hello, I’ve been making more paleoart recently so I’m gonna be updating this blog again after so many years lol.

To begin, some pterosaurs from a while ago.

[jayrockin]

What species of pterosaur is your fursoña? If they are a certain species? :0c

Darwinopterus :-)

Not accurately drawn in any way, with wildly fluctuating amounts of wing and anthropomorphism.

[jeranodon]

Darwinopterus

Artfight attack for @jayrockin!!

[anyonghalimaw]

all my currently available pterosaur designs. dimorphodon is 17 usd while the anthros are 12 usd each

willing to hold 1 week max. dm to claim

edit: molten darwinopterus has been sold!

[saritawolff]

#Archovember Day 18 - Cascocauda rong

The Anurognathids of the Jurassic and Cretaceous were highly derived pterosaurs that filled a similar niche to bats. They were nocturnal or crepuscular, insectivorous (though some larger species may have eaten fish as well), arboreal, and had short tails. However, Cascocauda rong of Middle - Late Jurassic China was an exception to the short tail rule. It’s tail was longer than other known anurognathids, earning it a name meaning “fluffy ancient tail.” But more importantly, Cascocauda provides us evidence of the complexity of pycnofibers in pterosaurs. Long thought to be simple and furlike, pterosaur pycnofibers were thought to be unique structures that evolved independently from feathers. However, Cascocauda had an array of different pycnofiber shapes and structures, one of them being similar to downy feathers with frayed ends. This further strengthens the hypothesis that feathers evolved before dinosaurs and pterosaurs even split into two different clades. Also, infrared spectral analysis was used on these pycnofibers, showing they had a similar absorption spectra to red human hair, making Cascocauda one of the only pterosaurs for which we know its coloration!

Found in the Tiaojishan Formation, Cascocauda rong would have lived with other anurognathids like Jeholopterus, Sinomacrops, and the tiny Luopterus. A wealth of other types of pterosaurs existed here as well, such as Darwinopterus, Kunpengopterus, Archaeoistiodactylus, Pterorhynchus, Wukongopterus, Daohugoupterus, Douzhanopterus, Fenghuangopterus, Jianchangnathus, Jianchangopterus, Qinglongopterus, and Liaodactylus. Dinosaurs lived here too, including the famously colored Anchiornis and other Anchiornithids like Aurornis, Caihong, Eosinopteryx, Pedopenna, Serikornis, and Xiaotingia, as well as the bizarrely bat-winged Scansoriopterygids Epidexipteryx, Scansoriopteryx, and Yi, and the quilled heterodontosaur Tianyulong. Arboreal cynodonts like Agilodocodon, Juramaia, Maiopatagium, Arboroharamiya, Volaticotherium, Vilevolodon, and Xianshou would have shared the trees with Cascocauda rong, adding to the busy, fluffy, feathery nature of this ancient forest.