#ornithischia

[stavrosskundromichalis]

The newly described Archaeocursor asiaticus scampering around in Early Jurassic China. Unfortunately, it was too late to include it in my forthcoming book on Early Jurassic dinosaurs 🥺

[pansylair]

🟨 Jakapil 🟨

acrylic, gouache, and gloss medium on coldpress

Part of the Nucleus House Group Show: P.S. 9, opening tomorrow, December 15th, Portland, OR.

One of my three 5x7” postcard sized paintings that will be available in person and online. :)

[makairodonx]

A new study published just a few days ago (https://peerj.com/articles/20794/) has completely changed our understanding of the facial anatomy and biology of one of Australia’s most famous dinosaurs. It shows that Muttaburrasaurus langdoni, which rivaled Iguanodon or even T.rex in size, didn’t possess a resonating chamber in its nose but a much narrower snout than traditional media depictions, a strong sense of smell, wide-ranging vision, low-frequency hearing similar to that of elephants, as well as a specialized teeth and beak for consuming tough vegetation.

[alphynix]

Gigantspinosaurus sichuanensis was an early stegosaur that lived during the mid-Jurassic, about 166 million years ago, in what is now southwestern China.

Around 4.5m long (~14'9"), it had relatively small back plates and a pair of enormous shoulder spikes. It's unclear exactly how the shoulder spines were positioned in life, but based on how they were found articulated in a fairly complete skeleton they seem to have swept sideways and backwards, protecting Gigantspinosaurus' flanks.

Skin impressions show a mosaic of polygonal scales with scattered "rosettes" made up of larger scales surrounded by a ring of smaller scales, with a rough ridged surface texture that may have reduced light glare – suggesting an overall more matte appearance rather than glossy.

The thigh bones of one specimen are pathological, showing evidence that these dinosaurs sometimes suffered from bone tumors.

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References:

Hao, Baoqiao, et al. "Redescription of Gigantspinosaurus sichuanensis (Dinosauria, Stegosauria) from the Late Jurassic of Sichuan, Southwestern China." Acta Geologica Sinica‐English Edition 92.2 (2018): 431-441. https://doi.org/10.1111/1755-6724.13535

Hao, Baoqiao, et al. "Femoral osteopathy in Gigantspinosaurus sichuanensis (Dinosauria: Stegosauria) from the Late Jurassic of Sichuan Basin, Southwestern China." Historical Biology 32.8 (2020): 1028-1035. https://doi.org/10.1080/08912963.2018.1561673

Wikipedia contributors. “Gigantspinosaurus” Wikipedia, 04 Aug. 2025, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gigantspinosaurus

Xing, Lida, Peng, G.-Z., and Shu, C.-K. "Stegosaurian skin impressions from the Upper Jurassic Shangshaximiao Formation, Zigong, Sichuan, China: A new observation." Geological Bulletin of China 27.7 (2008): 1049-1053. http://www.xinglida.net/pdf/XING_et_al_2008_Stegosaurian_skin.pdf

Zhou, Yuxuan, et al. "Zircon geochronology of the new dinosaur fauna in the Middle Jurassic lower Shaximiao Formation in Chongqing, SW China." Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 592 (2022): 110894. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2022.110894

[onlyscarcelyscaly]

Somehow neglected to share this Stegosaurus bas-relief project here, when I began in December 2024, so now that I'm starting it over I may as well share both versions. The more finished-looking one, in soft clay, is now unworkable because its plastic base has warped too badly, and so the new, slightly larger air-hardening clay version is mounted on a pane of glass instead. Thankfully, water restores this Paperclay's pliability, so I'll be able to texture and reshape this project even as it dries. More detail and context in the image descriptions.

[lonelywretchjervistetch]

So, in the midst of the thousand thousand other projects I have started, on this website and in life…I just wanna have some fun with art. Not the best artist, so forgive my trespasses here, especially with a dinosaur species I’ve, admittedly, never heard of! Neat one, though! This is a part of the #DrawDinosDaily challenge posted by @a-dinosaur-a-day, so I’ll try and do as many of these as I can this month (or…year?)!

So, middle Triassic dinosaur known from fossils in Tanzania, which is super neat! He’s kind of a weirdy, with longer front limbs, functional fifth toes, a toothless front of the mouth, and an unclear phylogenetic relationship to a primitive group of the dinosaurs, the silesaurids. I skimmed a few papers (unaccustomed to reading paleontological species description papers, so that was a lot of jargon), got some vibe of the guy, and put him to paper! Or iPad.

The potential inaccuracies in my depiction are the implications of feathers (no direct evidence, especially for a dinosaur this old, but there is some academic speculation that feathers may be this early), the way the feet are drawn (that was a lot harder than I thought it would be, but I think I got that functional fifth toe right in there), and the length of the front limbs (they ARE long, but I leant into some older interpretations of the species). So, to my fellow dinosaur lovers, sorry about that! Been a while since I’ve drawn a non-avian dinosaur, and certainly not in this style. Hopefully, sticking with this challenge helps me improve a bit! Next up, the Bearded Reedling (Panurus biarnicus)!

[paleo-cafnir]

Seems this Tarchia found the dino cam hidden in her enclosure!

[hasellia]

2026DrawDinoDaily, Day 82, Marchosauria, 22.03.2026

Parasaurolophus Parasaurolophus walkeri

Wah, dino week complete! It's been a while since I did an art challenge & I really enjoyed it! We're ending with a very iconic dinosaur that is very marvellous, parasaurolophus, who can sing a lovely chorus that I'm sure made many birds jealous. I'll stop before I bore us. But yeag, last I heard, we actually have a pretty good idea how this iconic animal sounded! Very trumpet-ey. I can't help but think of Dinosaur King ™ with this dinosaur, too.

I'll do more 2026drawdinodaily prompts that come up when I can. Looking forward to Hoatzin, Butcher bird, Kentrosaurus & Kakapo! See you then!