Monday, April 07, 2008

Here (shortly), There (will) Be Dragons

I like dragons. I also like taxonomy. I also have a love/hate relationship with the McFarlane Dragon figure line. I've very selective about which ones I buy. Over the last two years or so, I've accrued some 30+ dragons, and as I understand it, a few more will be released this year. I have given them all scientific names. I have also, and I'm totally not kidding, built a phylogeny for these dragons. What's more, I have differentiated between dragons and wyverns. Whether dragons are wyvern-mimics or vice versa is not clear--the fossil record is ambiguous as to which group originated first. Dragons themselves have a poor fossil record, and their origins among Reptilia are unclear. Wyverns, however, are unquestionably archosaurs, although exactly which branch of the Archosauria they came from is similarly murky.

See? This is going to be so much fun. Expect the first entry in an overly-long series on dragon and wyvern taxonomy tonight! The maiden taxon: Eudracos magnificentissimus, otherwise known as the greater European dragon!

1 comment:

AJA said...

Gamer, artist, dino-enthusiast, and dragon lover (at least in regards to McFarlane's models). Seriously, we need to get together some time.

For further studies, you should check out the Dragonology book:

http://www.amazon.com/Dragonology-Complete-Book-Dragons-Ologies/dp/0763623296/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1207669308&sr=1-1

It's a fun "field study" of dragons and part of my own dragon collection (around 150 pieces including one McFarlane model).