#n class

[melbournetrains]

you look like you need a massage babygirl. loosen up those muscles!!

[neovenatorgirlteeth]

DINOVEMBER 3/13: Sinosaurus triassicus

WE'RE GONNA DO IT FOLKS I'M GONNA DO IT I AM GOING TO COMPLETE THIS CHALLENGE ¡4 DAYS REMAIN! Tbh I've had this drawing sat in my drafts for probably 2 weeks at this point, I've been struggling with no.4 and with the description for this one. She's in colour this time, not because of any premeditated choice but because there wasn't enough contrast between the feathered and nonfeathered parts of the animal.

Anyhoo, Sinosaurus is a theropod from Yunnan province, China that lived roughly 200Ma ago. It's very similar to the North-american Dilophosaurus, being roughly the same size and build, with a pair of head crests that have a distinctive V shape when viewed from the front. Although it's been named since 1940, it was only really properly understood when Specimen KMV8701 was unearthed in the 1980s; this fossil was originally referred to as Dilophosaurus sinensis until it was linked to the jaw fragments of the holotype and reassigned to Sinosaurus.

I'm featuring this animal because another important step has been taken towards understanding it's biology this year: specimen ZLJ0057, another more complete Sinosaurus triassicus found in recent years, has been modelled and analysed in depth by Liang, Falkingham and Xing to help understand it's biomechanics. It was found that Sinosaurus weighed in at almost 850kg, heavier than previously thought, and that it was a strong runner that used both its arms and jaws together to capture prey. These kinds of studies can be a slog to put together, but they form the base on which the rest of palaeontology is built.

[daisywithnomakeup]

Shepparton long weekend train, Steamrail Victoria. (4 days, 3 nights on the train)

Before the trip to Shepparton started:

[melbournetrains]

you. are Scary

[melbournetrains]

the best and worst of the world

[neovenatorgirlteeth]

DINOVEMBER 2/13: Musankwa sanyatiensis

No.2, finally. On the 7th. This is why I didn't give myself one every day folks.

This sauropodomorph was discovered near the top of Zimbabwe's Pebbly Arkose formation, dating back to around 225Ma ago. The description of the specimen, a partial leg bone, was published in May of this year by Barrett et al. It's nothing too special morphology and phylogeny wise, falling slap bang halfway between the most basal sauropodomorphs (like its compatriot Mbiresaurus) and the sauropods proper. It doesn't appear to be particularly large or small for a "prosauropod", but it's nice to have another Triassic species and an addition to the poorly studied palaeofauna of Africa. Even if the lead scientist on the paper was one of the European scientists working on the specimen and not the Zimbabwean ones. A bit yikes.

I decided to give this male some neck quills, I love a sauropodomorph neck quill, and a funky throat patch as well. I also tried to give him a dynamic pose but it didn't work out for me, so I did a more standard side shot.

[neovenatorgirlteeth]

DINOVEMBER 1/13: Gondwanax paraisensis

Hello everyone! I'm doing Dinovember again this year, but a little differently. I'll only be doing 3 drawings a week (ish) in order to pace myself, as in past years going the full 30 hasn't worked for me. As per usual, I'll be following my own list which is sorted oldest-youngest, with the focus this year being on new discoveries.

Talking of new discoveries, Gondwanax was only described in September this year from a femur (and other potentially assignable scraps) found in Brazil's Santa Maria formation. Gondwanax was one of the oldest known dinosauromorphs at 240Ma-230Ma, rivalling animals like Nyasasaurus, the closely related Asilisaurus from Tanzania and furthering our knowledge of the origins of dinosauria.

Gondwanax has been identified as a silesaur, a group of primarily herbivorous archosaurs which it looks increasingly like are actually the long sort-after Triassic representatives of the ornithischian dinosaurs. The phylogeny of Gondwanax published in it's description supports this, placing it and the rest of "silesauridae" as grading from basal dinosauria into crown ornithischia.

[neovenatorgirlteeth]

DINOVEMBER 5/13: Alpkarakush Kyrgyzicus

Alpkarakush is a theropod, a metriacanthosaurid specifically, which were a group of medium large allosauroids that were the apex predators of Asia and parts of Europe during the middle-late Jurassic. Alpkarakush itself was about 7-8m long and was found in Kyrgyzstan near the border with Uzbekistan. Two individuals were found in the rocks from the top of the Balabansai formation, dating back to 164-165Ma before present: a subadult, nearly fully grown and at least 17 years old, and a smaller and younger animal, probably a juvenile.

One thing Alpkarakush is noted for is its huge rough-textured eyebrows, which with the already high arched skull of most metriacanthosaurs would have created a big brow crest. I chose to cover this brow crest in big scutelike scales, which I think nicely contrasts with the feathery mane I gave it. I'm quite happy with this one and it didn't give me too much grief unlike the last two, so all good. I am going to have to stretch this Dinovember into Dinocember which is FINE AND COOL ALSO. 👍