#microraptorian

[doodling-in-dromaeosauridae]

In person, the feathers have more colours to show the iridescence, but alas, my camera does not pick up on them.

[saritapaleo]

Archovember 2025 Day 17

Dinosaur Tianyuraptor ostromi, of Late Cretaceous, China!

Tianyuraptor ostromi is part of the Microraptoria clade, a clade of dromaeosaurs known for long feathers on both their legs and arms giving them “four wings”. However, Tianyuraptor had unusually short arms for a microraptorian, paired with unusually long lower hindlimbs. It was also larger than all other known microraptorines. Tianyuraptor was likely not doing any gliding, but was instead adapted as a ground-based pursuit predator.

Found in the Yixian Formation of Late Cretaceous China, Tianyuraptor ostromi would have lived alongside a plethora of other theropods, including other microraptorians like Sinornithosaurus and Zhongjianosaurus, compsognathids like Sinosauropteryx, a variety of avialans like Zhongornis, Yixianosaurus, Shanweiniao, Sapeornis, Longicrusavis, Hongshanornis, Iteravis, Dalingheornis, Archaeorhynchus, and Confuciusornis, oviraptorosaurs like Similicaudipteryx, therizinosaurs like Beipiaosaurus, and tyrannosauroids like Dilong. Tianyuraptor could have also met ankylosaurs like Liaoningosaurus, ceratopsians like Psittacosaurus lujiatunensis, and hadrosaurs like Jinzhousaurus. Pterosaurs also lived here, including ctenochasmatids like Cathayopterus and Elanodactylus, istiodactylids like Luchibang, and other pterodactyloids like Ningchengopterus.

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!

[whendinosaursruledtheworld]

Daily Dinosaur Facts: Day 4

Sinornithosaurus was originally thought to be venomous, but, what was first thought to be a venom sac, turned out to be a tooth ready to replace an old/worn one.

Image Source

[doodling-in-dromaeosauridae]

I did it. I doodled a dromaeosaurid.

[doodling-in-dromaeosauridae]

Microraptor art piece thing.

[wispwumbo]

Hi

Bird

"Dashers, or Yuuv, are a group of predominantly gliding but flightless Microraptorians closely related to their smaller flighted relatives the Darters, Black Dashers, or Deniizu which I'm told translates to 'Kidnappers Fall from Trees', a fitting name based off their preferred hunting tactic.

Dashers are cursorial and arboreal being better at one over the other depending on the species, Black Dashers are proficient climbers but are too large to efficiently chase prey in the trees, they often sit in trees and watch the floor, leaping out of the tree onto their prey once it wanders close enough, they kill with the raptor prey restraint technique observed in related dromaeosaurs.

If a Black Dasher fails to get the jump on it's prey it will chase it down on it's slender legs. Black Dashers will also use their strong legs to jump from tree to tree, quietly making their way to it's prey.

Dashers are social animals, especially Black Dashers. Black Dashers live in tight knit groups of unrelated individuals, almost like a friend group, each individual in these groups are monogamously connected and will choose the same partner to mate with during mating season year after year. That's just the usual however, I've documented a handful of groups that partake in what seems to be polyamory.

These groups will work together to ambush larger prey, or to snatch young from larger animals including Sphinx, they tend target the young of Sphinx, seemingly understanding that Sphinx are their main competitors.

Dasher chicks are held in trees in nests made from hollowed out portions of trees and gaurded loyaly by their flock, the flock shares one communal nest and each member puts equal effort into the eggs and the chicks that hatch from them.

Dashers as a group tend to live about 12-25 years, Black Dashers living the longest and the smallest species, Speckled Dashers living the shortest. On average Dashers take 3-10 years to mature.

Black Dashers are seen as sacred by Wojuikean people, as they rarely attack settlements and actively kill the main predator of Wojuikean natives, the Sphinx

However smaller species like Epualette Dashers and especially Burglar Birds are known to frequently hunt livestock and break into homes." Vincent Allen, former Earth zoologist, and Shaikei Naturalist