#paravian

[marblerose-rue]

mourning dove x balaur bondoc

[saritawolff]

#Archovember Day 1 - Your Choice!

In my ongoing effort to draw all the non-avian dinosaurs we know the colors of, I’ve chosen Anchiornis huxleyi!

The type species for the Anchiornithids (“near birds”), Anchiornis huxleyi was a crow-sized dinosaur living in the Late Jurassic of Liaoning, China. It was relatively common, as hundreds of specimens have been uncovered in this area. But what makes Anchiornis so unique and important is that it was the first Mesozoic dinosaur species to have its entire life appearance be known by man! Having hundreds of well-preserved fossils available allows us to extract a lot of information about not only its size and shape, but its skin, feathers, and even coloration. Anchiornis had long wing feathers on its arms and legs (though its leg feathers were not as long as those of Microraptorians), fluffy downy feathers all over its body, a feathered crest on its head, and feathers covering its feet.

Only two Anchiornis fossils have had their well-preserved melanosomes studied so far. By comparing the structure of these melanosomes to modern birds, paleontologists have been able to infer the life colors of Anchiornis! It had mostly gray and black body feathers and white forewing and hindwing feathers with black tips. Its tail colors remain unknown. The first specimen of Anchiornis to be surveyed for melanosomes also had red or rufous coloring on its crest, as well as rufous speckles on its otherwise black and gray head. However, the second specimen did not have any rufous coloration. This may be due to different preservation of melanosomes, different investigative techniques, the animals in question having regional differences or even being different species/subspecies, the second Anchiornis being younger, or sexual dimorphism.

While Anchiornis had rather large feathered forelimbs, it didn’t seem to have been much of a flier. Unlike the later Microraptorians, its wings were rounded and relatively short compared to other flying dinosaurs, and the flimsy flight feathers overlapped each other to strengthen them. A 2016 study concluded that while juvenile Anchiornis may have been able to use their wings to assist with leaping through the trees, adults were simply too heavy and their wings too small to gain any lift. Instead, it is more likely their wings were used for display. As their legs were long, they may have been adapted for speed, using their wings to aid in aerodynamics as they quickly darted through the underbrush.

Pellets (such as those coughed up by owls) have been found both within and in association with Anchiornis, and contained lizard bones and fish scales. Prey items that could have also been eaten by Anchiornis include insects, arachnids, salamanders, small anurognathids (such as Cascocauda, who we will be visiting later this month) and other small or juvenile pterosaurs, and small cynodonts like Agilodocodon and Juramaia.

Anchiornis lived alongside other Anchiornithids such as Aurornis, Caihong, Eosinopteryx, Pedopenna, Serikornis, Xiaotingia, as well as the Scansoriopterygids Yi, Scansoriopteryx, and Epidexipteryx. It also lived alongside the quilled heterodontosaurid Tianyulong.

[awannabepaleoartist]

Prehistoric Pokémon - Crypto

While their plumage is extensive and ostentatious, revived Archeops have actually proven to be rather poor flyers. While they are able to fly short distances or quickly escape to high roosts with their wings, they are more adept at running. These feathers seem to be more important as flashy display features, with powered flight evolving later in time. Being omnivores, they hunt down prey and forage for fruits in packs.

Things have been pretty busy so this has been on the back-burner a little while, but I finally finished it! Only one more to go. The Despot of the Ancient Era...

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

Pneumatoraptor fodori

By Jack Wood 

Etymology: Thief of Air

First Described By: Ősi, Apesteguía & Kowalewski, 2010

Classification: Dinosauromorpha, Dinosauriformes, Dracohors, Dinosauria, Saurischia, Eusaurischia, Theropoda, Neotheropoda, Averostra, Tetanurae, Orionides, Avetheropoda, Coelurosauria, Tyrannoraptora, Maniraptoromorpha, Maniraptoriformes, Maniraptora, Pennaraptora, Paraves

Status: Extinct

Time and Place: 85 million years ago, in the Santonian of the Late Cretaceous 

Pneumatoraptor is known from the Csehbánya Formation of Hungary 

Physical Description: Pneumatoraptor is a small Paravian, aka the group of dinosaurs that includes birds and proto-birds, raptors, and Troodontids. However, we have no idea what sort of Paravian Pneumatoraptor would have been, if any. It is only known from the left shoulder, which shows that it had a very narrow and hollow shoulder bone than its relatives. Beyond that, we have no idea what it may have looked like - it could have been from any of the three main Paravian groups (Avialans, Troodontids, and Dromaeosaurs). It probably would have been very small, only about 0.73 meters in body length. It definitely would have been covered in feathers all over its body, including complex wings. Teeth, claws, vertebrae, and part of the leg bone of Pneumatoraptor may have been found in its ecosystem, but the jury is still out.

Diet: It is uncertain what Pneumatoraptor would have eaten. Since it isn’t a definite dromaeosaur, we can’t say confidently that it was carnivorous; many creatures at the base of the Paravian tree are possibly omnivores. In addition, early raptors (which Pneumatoraptor may have been) seem to have been piscivores! So the jury is out till we have its jaw.

Behavior: Without more fossils, it’s uncertain what Pneumatoraptor’s behavior would have been like, since it could have been one of three very distinctive dinosaur groups (or something else entirely). Based on its relatives, it probably was very active and warm-blooded, took care of its young, and used its wings and tail fan in display and communication. It may have even been able to fly poorly, but that’s just speculation on my part.

Ecosystem: The Csehbánya Formation has been a flourishing site of extensive research over the past few years, as more and more fossils come out of the ecosystem to show a slice of Late Cretaceous life in Eastern Europe. This was a plant-heavy forest ecosystem, with extensive mud, silt, clay, and sand throughout the environment. River channels flooded through the ecosystem, providing water for the extensive number of animals present. Here, Pneumatoraptor lived alongside many other dinosaurs - the small Ceratopsian Ajkaceratops; two fast-moving ankylosaurs, Hungarosaurus and Struthiosaurus, the Rhabdodont ornithopod Mochlodon, the predatory opposite bird Bauxitornis, and plenty of unnamed dinosaurs including an Abelisaurid and a Sauropod. Pneumatoraptor would have feared predation by the Abelisaurid. Non-dinosaurs were extensive too - the pterosaur Bakonydraco, a variety of turtles, many kinds of weird lizards including a Mosasaur, a variety of frogs, many fish and insects, and crocodyliformes - including Kharkutosuchus and Doratodon. Going forward, more research on this ecosystem is sure to reveal even more weird creatures!

Other: Pneumatoraptor was extremely small for its group, indicating it may be closer to Avialans than to Dromaeosaurs.

~ By Meig Dickson

Sources under the Cut 

Borkent, Art (1997). "Upper and Lower Cretaceous biting midges (Ceratopogonidae: Diptera) from Hungarian and Austrian amber and the Koonwarra Fossil Bed of Australia". Stuttgarter Beiträge zur Naturkunde (B) Geologie und Paläontologie. 249: 1–10.

Botfalvai, Gábor; Ősi, Attila; Mindszenty, Andrea (January 2015). "Taphonomic and paleoecologic investigations of the Late Cretaceous (Santonian) Iharkút vertebrate assemblage (Bakony Mts, Northwestern Hungary)". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 417: 379–405.

Botfalvai, Gábor; Haas, János; Bodor, Emese Réka; Mindszenty, Andrea; Ősi, Attila (2016). "Facies architecture and palaeoenvironmental implications of the upper Cretaceous (Santonian) Csehbánya formation at the Iharkút vertebrate locality (Bakony Mountains, Northwestern Hungary)". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 441: 659–678.

Cau, A., V. Beyrand, D. F. A. E. Voeten, V. Fernandez, P. Tafforeau, K. Stein, R. Barsbold, K. Tsogtbaatar, P. J. Currie and P. Godefroit. 2017. Synchrotron scanning reveals amphibious ecomorphology in a new clade of bird-like dinosaurs. Nature

Gareth J. Dyke, Attila Ősi (2010). "A review of Late Cretaceous fossil birds from Hungary". Geological Journal. 45 (4): 434–444.

Makádi, L., Botfalvai, G., Ősi, A. 2006: Egy késő-kréta kontinentális gerinces fauna a Bakonyból: halak, kétéltűek, teknősök, gyíkok. Földtani Közlöny 136/4, pp. 487-502.

Makádi, László (December 2006). "Bicuspidon aff. hatzegiensis (Squamata: Scincomorpha: Teiidae) from the Upper Cretaceous Csehbánya Formation (Hungary, Bakony Mts)". Acta Geologica Hungarica. 49 (4): 373–385.

Makádi, László; Caldwell, Michael W.; Ősi, Attila (2012-12-19). "The First Freshwater Mosasauroid (Upper Cretaceous, Hungary) and a New Clade of Basal Mosasauroids". PLOS ONE. 7 (12): e51781.

Makádi, László (July 2013). "The first known chamopsiid lizard (Squamata) from the Upper Cretaceous of Europe (Csehbánya Formation; Hungary, Bakony Mts)". Annales de Paléontologie. 99 (3): 261–274.

Makádi, László (November 2013). "A new polyglyphanodontine lizard (Squamata: Borioteiioidea) from the Late Cretaceous Iharkút locality (Santonian, Hungary)". Cretaceous Research. 46: 166–176.

Makádi, László; Nydam, Randall L. (2014-12-23). "A new durophagous scincomorphan lizard genus from the Late Cretaceous Iharkút locality (Hungary, Bakony Mts)". Paläontologische Zeitschrift. 89 (4): 925–941.

Ösi, Attila; Weishampel, David B.; Jianu, Coralia M. (2005). "First evidence of azhdarchid pterosaurs from the Late Cretaceous of Hungary". Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 50 (4): 777–787.

Ösi, Attila. 2005. Hungarosaurus tormai, a new ankylosaur (Dinosauria) from the Upper Cretaceous of Hungary. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 25(2):370-383, June 2005.

Ősi, A. & Rabi, M., 2006. Egy késő-kréta kontinentális gerinces fauna a Bakonyból II.: krokodilok, dinoszauruszok, pteroszauruszok és madarak (The Late Cretaceous continental vertebrate fauna from the Bakony Mountains II: crocodiles, dinosaurs (Theropoda, Aves, Ornithischia), pterosaurs). Földtani Közlöny, 136, 4, 503–526.

Ősi, Attila; Clark, James M.; Weishampel, David B. (2007-02-01). "First report on a new basal eusuchian crocodyliform with multicusped teeth from the Upper Cretaceous (Santonian) of Hungary". Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Abhandlungen. 243 (2): 169–177.

Ősi, A.; Butler, R.J.; Weishampel, David B. (2010). "A Late Cretaceous ceratopsian dinosaur from Europe with Asian affinities". Nature. 465 (7297): 466–468.

Ősi, A., S. Apesteguíia, and M. Kowalewski. 2010. Non-avian theropod dinosaurs from the early Late Cretaceous of central Europe. Cretaceous Research 31(3):304-320

Ősi, Attila; Buffetaut, Eric (January 2011). "Additional non-avian theropod and bird remains from the early Late Cretaceous (Santonian) of Hungary and a review of the European abelisauroid record". Annales de Paléontologie. 97 (1–2): 35–49.

Ősi, A.; Prondvai, E.; Butler, R.; Weishampel, D. B. (2012). Evans, Alistair Robert (ed.). "Phylogeny, Histology and Inferred Body Size Evolution in a New Rhabdodontid Dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Hungary". PLoS ONE. 7 (9): e44318.

Ősi, Attila; Prondvai, Edina (August 2013). "Sympatry of two ankylosaurs (Hungarosaurus and cf. Struthiosaurus) in the Santonian of Hungary". Cretaceous Research. 44: 58–63.

Ősi, Attila; Bodor, Emese Réka; Makádi, László; Rabi, Márton (2016). "Vertebrate remains from the Upper Cretaceous (Santonian) Ajka Coal Formation, western Hungary". Cretaceous Research. 57: 228–238.

Ősi, Attila; Csiki-Sava, Zoltán; Prondvai, Edina (2017-06-12). "A Sauropod Tooth from the Santonian of Hungary and the European Late Cretaceous 'Sauropod Hiatus'". Scientific Reports. 7 (1): 3261.

Ősi, Attila; Pereda-Suberbiola, Xabier (July 2017). "Notes on the pelvic armor of European ankylosaurs (Dinosauria: Ornithischia)". Cretaceous Research. 75: 11–22.

Prondvai, Edina; Botfalvai, Gábor; Stein, Koen; Szentesi, Zoltán; Ősi, Attila (March 2017). "Collection of the thinnest: A unique eggshell assemblage from the Late Cretaceous vertebrate locality of Iharkút (Hungary)". Central European Geology. 60 (1): 73–133.

Rabi, Márton; Sebők, Nóra (October 2015). "A revised Eurogondwana model: Late Cretaceous notosuchian crocodyliforms and other vertebrate taxa suggest the retention of episodic faunal links between Europe and Gondwana during most of the Cretaceous". Gondwana Research. 28 (3): 1197–1211.

Segesdi, Martin; Botfalvai, Gábor; Bodor, Emese Réka; Ősi, Attila; Buczkó, Krisztina; Dallos, Zsolt; Tokai, Richárd; Földes, Tamás (June 2017). "First report on vertebrate coprolites from the Upper Cretaceous (Santonian) Csehbánya Formation of Iharkút, Hungary". Cretaceous Research. 74: 87–99.

Szabó, Márton; Gulyás, Péter; Ősi, Attila (April 2016). "Late Cretaceous (Santonian) pycnodontid (Actinopterygii, Pycnodontidae) remains from the freshwater deposits of the Csehbánya Formation, (Iharkút, Bakony Mountains, Hungary)". Annales de Paléontologie. 102 (2): 123–134.

Szabó, Márton; Ősi, Attila (September 2017). "The continental fish fauna of the Late Cretaceous (Santonian) Iharkút locality (Bakony Mountains, Hungary)". Central European Geology. 60 (2): 230–287.

Szentesi, Zoltán; Venczel, Márton (April 2012). "A new discoglossid frog from the Upper Cretaceous (Santonian) of Hungary". Cretaceous Research. 34: 327–333.

Szentesi, Zoltán; Gardner, James D.; Venczel, Márton (March 2013). "Albanerpetontid amphibians from the Late Cretaceous (Santonian) of Iharkút, Hungary, with remarks on regional differences in Late Cretaceous Laurasian amphibian assemblages". Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. 50 (3): 268–281.

Virág, Attila; Ősi, Attila (2017-04-27). "Morphometry, Microstructure, and Wear Pattern of Neornithischian Dinosaur Teeth From the Upper Cretaceous Iharkút Locality (Hungary)". The Anatomical Record. 300 (8): 1439–1463.

Weishampel, David B; et al. (2004). "Dinosaur distribution (Late Cretaceous, Europe)." In: Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; and Osmólska, Halszka (eds.): The Dinosauria, 2nd, Berkeley: University of California Press. Pp. 588-593.

Zoltán Szentesi and Márton Venczel (2010). "An advanced anuran from the Late Cretaceous (Santonian) of Hungary". Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Abhandlungen. 256 (3): 291–302.

[dinofloof]

I’ve been thinking about modeling Stenowatt so I made a ref sheet!  Finally nailed down how to draw the wings too (they’re like Zekrom, where the claws are only visible from the underside.)

[ewilloughby]

Say hello to "Silky" the Serikornis, the newest member of the paravian menagerie! Published online yesterday in The Science of Nature, I illustrated this guy for Andrea Cau, Ulysse Lefèvre & their coauthors in 2015. So, I have an unusually long cycle of review, revision, and resubmission to thank for helping in my struggles to stay relevant in the paleoart community now that I'm in grad school! :p

Despite being over two years old, this remains one of my favorites of my semi-recent pieces. The new dinosaur is related to other fuzzy little paravians like Eosinopteryx and Aurornis, and sports a voluminous covering of shaggy filaments that may've given the creature a life appearance somewhat like a silky chicken--hence the nickname. Incidentally, I first learned about the new find at SVP in 2014 in Berlin, and sketched out a brief rendition of it during the talk. Some of you might remember it!

So anyway, enjoy our sweet little Silky and his delicious meal of an orb-weaver ancestor--which is based on a specimen of Mongolarachne from Jurassic China--amidst a delicious spread of chanterelle ancestors. It almost invites the comparison to a roast hen with mushrooms. Almost.

Full resolution on my website.

[goldenchocobo]

Dinovember day 25- Paravian- Archiornis

[dinosaurs-dinosaurs-dinosaurs]

Teratornis, by Nobu Tamura, CC BY 3.0