#wukongopterus

[tinylongwing]

Here's another Nature card I hadn't posted yet - Wukongopterus, from the Flight expansion deck! Man, what a treat to get to do a pterosaur for this game!

[alphynix]

Wukongopterus lii was a pterosaur that lived during the mid-to-late Jurassic, about 164 million years ago, in what is now northeastern China. It was fairly small, with a wingspan of around 70cm (~2'4"), and showed a mixture of anatomical features in-between the long-tailed short-headed 'rhamphorhynchoids' and the short-tailed long-headed pterodactyloids.

Its long jaws were lined with tiny pointed conical teeth, suggesting it was adapted for primarily feeding on insects. It also had a very slight overbite, with the first two pairs of teeth in its upper jaw protruding almost vertically over the end of its lower jaw.

As a fully mature adult it would have had a low bony crest on its head that probably supported a larger keratinous structure – similar to other known wukongopterids – although the exact size and shape is unknown since the one confirmed specimen of Wukongopterus is missing that particular part of its skull. Another fossil nicknamed "Ian" may represent a second individual of this species, showing a different crest arrangement further forward on its snout, so I've made two different versions of today's image to reflect that possibility.

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References:

Cheng, Xin, et al. "New information on the Wukongopteridae (Pterosauria) revealed by a new specimen from the Jurassic of China." PeerJ 4 (2016): e2177. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.2177/supp-1

Garland, Nick. “Ian the Wukongopterid.” Pteros, https://www.pteros.com/pterosaurs/ian-the-wukongopterid.html

Wang, Xiaolin, et al. "An unusual long-tailed pterosaur with elongated neck from western Liaoning of China." Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências 81 (2009): 793-812. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0001-37652009000400016

Wikipedia contributors. “Wukongopterus.” Wikipedia, 8 Dec. 2023, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wukongopterus

XuanYu Zhou 周炫宇. Anatomy, Systematics and Paleopathology of Pterosaurs: insights based on new specimens from China. 2023. Hokkaido University, PhD thesis. https://doi.org/10.14943/doctoral.k1560

[bookrat]

Some little guys

[happyhealthycats]

I thought you might think this is neat: we started having our cats play before they get any food at all and it's pretty much eliminated one cats yelling for food each morning like he used to. The other will follow you around the apartment dragging a toy close to mealtime which is adorable and hilarious.

Awesome job! Not only are you doing a great job problem solving with a less than desirable behavior (the cat yelling), but you’re also incorporating the cat’s natural desire to eat after they’ve hunted something. A cat is going to get much more enrichment and enjoyment out of playtime if they’re rewarded with food! Amazing work!

[si-nequal-is]

Some crazy mashup between FGO and paleoart 1. Gilgamesh with Anzu 2. Caster Gilgamesh with Simurghia 3. Ozymandias with Alanqa 4. Minamoto no Raikou with Chupkaornis 5. Xuanzang with Archaeoindris and Wukongopterus

[hellsite-yano]

Something I noticed with all the people that don't like writscrib is this hilarious pseudo-intellectual crap they keep pulling in the messages. Like "i don't think writscrib will succeed because of the [sixteen big words that don't make sense on that order] and also something about being wary :/" like why do people want to be negative so bad

Yeah I noticed this too and one of the best things about all this is watching pretentious contrarians talk about things they know nothing about.

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

Wukongopterus lii

By Joschua Knüppe, retrieved from http://www.pteros.com/, a website dedicated to education about Pterosaurs.

A reminder that we will not be able to do every pterosaur until we reach $240 in donations on our patreon, so please donate even a dollar if you can.

Name: Wukongopterus lii 

Name Meaning: Wukong Wing

First Described: 2009

Described By: Wang et al. 

Classification: Avemetatarsalia, Ornithodira, Pterosauromorpha, Pterosauria, Macronychoptera, Novialoidea, Breviquartossa, Pterodactylomorpha, Monofenestrata, Darwinoptera, Wukongopteridae

Wukongopterus is our last Wukongopterid (until we get the funding we need to support extra entries) and the one that gave its name to the group. It is from the Daohugou Beds of Liaoning, China, living about 164 million years ago, in the Callovian age of the Middle Jurassic. It is known from a nearly complete, but compressed, skeleton, which lacks the back and middle of the skull. 

By Nobu Tamura, CC BY 3.0 

It was a small pterosaur, with a 73 centimeter wingspan, and may have been an insect eater. It had a long pair of jaws and short teeth, as well as a long tail. It probably had a crest on its head and a very small body, though of course, that is mostly extrapolated from its relatives. 

Sources:

http://www.pteros.com/pterosaurs/wukongopterus.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wukongopterus

This is your friendly reminder that ADAD relies on reblogs up and until @staff gets it’s shit together. Please reblog this post.

Shout out goes to @lgbmatt!

[bookrat]

Updated my Etsy shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/NightmareFuelStation