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Krookodile0553 — Longiceps

Published: 2013-04-21 19:40:55 +0000 UTC; Views: 1132; Favourites: 32; Downloads: 7
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Description With their novel ways of flight, very large members and the sheer strangeness; Pterosaurs would have to be my favorite group of prehistoric animals.
They have been around in popular fiction in all kinds of different media almost as long as the dinosaurs. In many ways they have always been in the shadows of their more illustrious cousins, but despite this have repeatedly been represented in all manner of books, films, comics and TV shows over the years. One notable feature of these various appearances are the hugely limited number of species on display. To make matters worse the reconstructions are often very poor and rely on outdated ideas about pterosaurs. One can hardly complain about the early films and books, but dinosaurs on the big screen especially have changed dramatically several times over the years reflecting the latest ideas in paleontology, yet the pterosaurs stay the same. Pterosaur research has been no less intense that that on the dinosaurs and our ideas about how they lived have changed as we discover new fossils and new ways of analyzing them, but we are left with tooth-y Pteranodon, "Pterodactyls", and 5 meter wing-span rhamphorhynchoids...
Although Pteranodon was likely a Seabird analogue as restored here, all Pterosaurs had a strange fur-like Integument called Pycnofibers. They were incapable of grasping items "or people... -3-" . In addition they quite likely had multitudes of lifestyles "think of how mammals have whales and bats" including Terrestrial Macropredators, Nocturnal Insectivores, Frugivores, Generalists, Terrestrial foragers, and countless more. Azhdarchids were even predating and displacing Dinosaurs!!!

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Comments: 12

TheDubstepAddict [2017-06-02 18:39:33 +0000 UTC]

That's not how patagia work

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EWilloughby [2013-04-22 04:57:08 +0000 UTC]

Looks great. Love the gannet influence.

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Krookodile0553 In reply to EWilloughby [2013-04-22 14:24:59 +0000 UTC]

If only Hartman did Azhdarchid Skeletals...

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TheMorlock [2013-04-22 01:29:35 +0000 UTC]

Awesome.

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FlipperSkeeMalker [2013-04-21 23:45:43 +0000 UTC]

Pterasaurs... Yes

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LordOyster [2013-04-21 20:30:54 +0000 UTC]

Honestly, I can agree with you. Pterosaurs already get a lot of flak because of the whole bone arrangement issue, and the misconceptions people have about them put them further down on the average person's interest level. Personally, I find them fascinating, being a separate group from the dinosaurs, yet having the mystery of just how they evolved flight surrounding them.
I guess, just as your interest lies with the lords of flight, mine lies with the dwellers of the deep. Just how the ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs and pliosaurs, mosasaurs, and even the primitive nothasaurs split off from the land dwellers and found their way back to the sea is another mystery waiting being solved. Perhaps, once the missing links between archosaurs and the flying/aquatic reptiles are discovered, will we truly begin to understand these magnificent animals.
As a side question, if you did decide to read the above mini-paragraphs (-_-), are you thinking of ever becoming a paleontologist?

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Krookodile0553 In reply to LordOyster [2013-04-21 21:53:58 +0000 UTC]

Actually, Small Archosauromorphs like Euparkaria, Scleromochlus, and Sharovipteryx were likely similar to the transitional Avemetatarsalian. Also, Nothosaurs and Placodonts are early offshoots of Sauropterygia which includes Plesiosauria and Pliosaurs are actually derived Plesiosaurs... Anyways, People like me are called Armchair Paleontologists... XD I'm actually planning to work with Zoo Animals though...

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SpinozillaRex [2013-04-21 20:16:20 +0000 UTC]

ya i gotta agree with the bottom, i've often thought abpout that myself, it is possible that in the future, pterosaurs will be proven to be flying dinosaurs but for now, we don't know

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Orionide5 [2013-04-21 20:13:34 +0000 UTC]

What interests me is whether big aquatic pterosaurs like Pteranodon may have been hairless to reduce drag, since insulation would have been less important.

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Krookodile0553 In reply to Orionide5 [2013-04-21 20:54:41 +0000 UTC]

Maybe... Maybe... Or the Pycnofibres could have been oily or waterproof... Those are the questions that can never be answered....

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Orionide5 In reply to Krookodile0553 [2013-04-21 21:10:23 +0000 UTC]

Unless we find a Pteranodon with fur preserved, that is.

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Krookodile0553 In reply to Orionide5 [2013-04-21 21:55:39 +0000 UTC]

True... True...

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