#megapterygius

[corvidcasette]

Limelight

Fingerpainted Ibispaint X,

Thur 21 Dec 2023

A lone megapterygius (newly discovered mosasaur) basks in the limelight while exploring an underwater cavern. A quick concept that I decided to blotch out for fun, I may attempt it again in the future

[knuppitalism-with-ue]

New mosasaurs dropped! Megapterygius, is a Japanese, derived mosaurus, roughly 7 m long.

It has three quite interesting features: it's rather complete it has hindlimbs longer than forelimbs and has potentially evidence for a dorsal fin

[the-paleoraptor]

Megapterygius wakayamaensis, a recently described mosasaurine, breaks the surface in between it’s casual cruising.

[alphynix]

Most mosasaurs all had very similar body plans: they were streamlined scaly monitor-lizard-like marine reptiles with four rounded paddle-shaped flippers, and many of them also had large shark-like tail fins.

But Megapterygius wakayamaensis here seems to have been doing something a bit different.

Living towards the end of the Cretaceous, about 72 million years ago, in the waters covering what is now western Japan, this mosasaur was around the size of a modern orca, roughly 6m long (~20').

Unlike other known mosasaurs its flippers were huge, bigger than its own head and distinctively wing-shaped, with the back pair being larger than the front. This is an arrangement oddly reminiscent of the unrelated plesiosaurs, and may suggest a convergent sort of highly maneuverable "underwater flight" swimming ability – but unlike plesiosaurs Megapterygius also still had a powerful fluked tail, so how exactly all of its fins worked together is still unknown.

It's also the first mosasaur known to preserve potential evidence of a dorsal fin. Some of its back vertebrae show a change in orientation at the point where a fin base would be expected to be, closely resembling the vertebrae shape of cetaceans like the modern harbor porpoise.

—

NixIllustration.com | Tumblr | Patreon

[ppaleoartistgallery]

Megapterygius

welcome to the world Megapterygius! congratulations to Konishi et al., (2023) on the publication!

im going to be trying out more artistic paleoart going into the new year

[dinolegend-paleoart]

Megapterygius wakayamaensis

[si-nequal-is]

Megapterygius wakayamaensis

[fallingsatellive]

Oh boy...

Hello

therians, if you have multiple theriotypes; what is your smallest one and ur largest one??

i'll go first ! ! my smallest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . my largest

harvest mouse. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . leucistic lion

[mighty-talos]

Mater

A 1-month-old Megapterygius Wakayamaensis wandering about the sea with his mother.

Megapterygius Wakayamaensis is an Mosasaurine that recently discovered in Toyajo Formation, Wakayama, Japan. Its name is derived from Ancient Greek meaning Large Wing-shape flippers.

[aberrantologist]

Megapterygius, a recently named Japanese mosasaur, cruises around the open ocean.

[fishsfailureson]

Unless you are me please don't press other without suggesting anything. If the "other" option doesn't win I will put any suggestions in future polls.

[knuppitalism-with-ue]

Results from the #paleostream

Synemporion, Megapterygius, Neosclerocalyptus and Trachytheuthis.

[fallingsatellive]

So I had a mosasaur dream shift the other night. The second time ever that has happened, and both times have been so weirdly specific on what species I was. The first time was years ago but I was an Aigialosaurus. This time I was a Megapterygius. It was a dream in which I was able to shift into my theriotypes, and Megapterygius was included in that. I have to assume that means something.

[dynamoterror1011]

Two sketches of some recently described squamates: the long-finned mosasaur Megapterygius from Late Campanian/Early Maastrichtian Japan, and the little stem-gecko Helioscopos from Late Jurassic Utah.

[gaetaniu]

Questo nuovo mosasauro del periodo cretaceo aveva pinne enormi a forma di ala

Il Megapterygius wakayamaensis aveva le dimensioni di un grande squalo bianco. Un nuovo genere e una nuova specie di mosasauro, chiamato Megapterygius wakayamaensis, sono stati identificati da uno scheletro in gran parte completo trovato nella prefettura di Wakayama, nel Giappone sud-occidentale. I mosasauri erano un gruppo di grandi rettili marini predatori che abitavano tutti gli oceani del…

[fallingsatellive]

I'm a woodlouse so I think that's as mundanely uncommon as it gets, and, also, a cuscus. I am also the only person I've seen confirm a prehistoric animal as a theriotype basically as soon as it was discovered -- Megapterygius wakamayensis.

I would love to hear about everyone’s “uncommon” kin/theriotypes!

A rare species? An uncommon breed? A super niche cryptid? I want to hear alllll about it!