Are you readers getting sick of seeing Nyctosaurus? That's okay, because I'm tired of drawing it. I couldn't even get the whole length of the beak on my paper this time. This version has a ridiculously long crest, the proper pteroid orientation (and length, although you can't see it), and fur. I got rid of the "fleshy pad" at the knuckle of the wing finger, because I honestly couldn't figure out how the pad would compress when the finger was extended.
Aside from some minor tinkering here and there, this will probably be the final version, which will be blown up to the size of my canvas and somehow transferred to it. Unless there's something horribly wrong with it, I am DONE with Nyctosaurus!
And don't worry--everything's been measured, based on John Conway's wonderful skeletal reconstruction.
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8 comments:
That crest is ridiculous. Screams of sexual selection, at least to an amateur like me.
Question for you....is there more evidence of pterosaurs (specifically the Tapejara species *wink wink nudge nudge*) roosting in colonies like albatrosses, or were they more "wall clingers" or roosters like wrens or bats?
They certainly were not wall clinging in the manner of bats. Their foot antomy does not support it. Bat feet are oriented backward and face palm(or what ever the foot equivalent is, tarsal? IDK) side down when the limb is sprawled. Whereas pterosaur feet are pretty much like ours, they're oriented forward and the palms face more or less medially when the limb is sprawled. And aside from a certain baby Sinopterus with curved pedal phalanges there isnt much to suggest they were in the trees either. As for colonies zero evidence for Tapejara, but Pterodaustro is known from a possible nesting colony. Adult and juvenile specimens from a verity of age classes and at least one egg have been recovered from the Loma Del Pterodaustro site in Argentina.
Wall-clinging? Raven, I'm going to come over there stab you! That idea went out in the early 1900's! Really, Tapejara's lifestlye is kind of a big question mark. It probably wasn't a skimmer, and some workers have surmised that it ate fruit. Chris is right about Pterodaustro, but that taxon is pretty far removed from Tapejara.
Just, y'know, FYI, raven is probably a lot better armed than you, Zach.
By which I mean, you'll make a loverly corpse.
... albeit with, sadly, no pneumatic bones.
By the way, you can't fool me. This is really just a kid wearing a costume.
See, this is why I ask such questions - to get a rise AND to be educated! My work here is done :D
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