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LEXLOTHOR — Pentecopterus Model Stock
#eurypterids #seascorpions #pentacopterus #arthropods #crustacean #fossils #invertebrates #paleontology #ordovician
Published: 2016-12-24 17:14:19 +0000 UTC; Views: 1223; Favourites: 28; Downloads: 14
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Description
More examples of my fossil photography can be seen in my DA "Paleo & Sci Illo" gallery:lexlothor.deviantart.com/galle…
Eurypterids were among the largest and most numerous pelagic predators of Palaeozoic seas. They were segmented arthropods also known as "sea scorpions". Some species grew to over two meters in length. It used some of its legs for manipulation and crawling on the ocean bottom. The large lobed pair were used as oars to swim freely in water.
Track ways found in Norway and Australia record that some large species were among the first animals to crawl onto the land.
This life sized (200 cm) model was displayed at the 2016 Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Meeting in Salt Lake City. This is a representation of the giant Ordovician eurypterid Pentacopterus. Its anterior arms are as long as those of a human.
If anyone can provide information on the identification of this model I would appreciate it. It was displayed at the Pangea Productions table.
text (c) John P. Alexander
I have eliminated the background on this photo so that the image may be used for educational and artistic purposes. Please inform me if you use this picture as stock.
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Comments: 14
Are you sure this is really Megalograptus? it looks suspiciously similar to Pentecopterus.
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No, I am not sure. This model was displayed without any identification. Can you provide me with a link to images or descriptions of Pentecopterus.? If it is a match, I will relabel with photo.
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I think I have hit the jackpot.
After doing some more digging around for references, I have found this:
www.behance.net/gallery/330737…
It shows a WIP selection of photographs taken throughout the build of a model of the creature.
There even is a life-sized print of this interpretative drawing:
www.archaeology.wiki/wp-conten…
I think it's safe to say the animal is indeed Pentecopterus, and that the model you have photographed is most probably the same one as the one which has been unveiled in Decorah, Iowa; seen in these photos I've linked to earlier:
www.decorahnews.com/uploads/im…
www.decorahnews.com/uploads/im…
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Sure!
Sorry for the long post!
I have only recently learned about this sea scorpion, although it's been described in 2015.
It was a megalograptid too, but lived earlier than Megalograptus.
The main difference between the two are the cercal crescents of Megalograptus. They are absent on this model and Pentecopterus didn't have them either, and it also wasn't as extremely spiky as Megalograptus.
Pentecopterus also seems to have had an extra paddle-like segment on the 6th leg. (it looks almost similar to the alula of birds, but it's located on the paddle leg). This is not well visible from this angle on your photo, but it still looks like the third to last segment on the paddle leg stands out as if it was enlarged past what was the norm for other eurypterids.
I have found some photos of a physical lifesized model of this animal, and it looks like it may even be the same sculpt as the one you have seen, or at least very similar:
cz.pinterest.com/pin/297237644…
cz.pinterest.com/pin/297237644…
Some of the first things that pop up for "Pentecopterus" is this interpretative drawing from the original paper:
cz.pinterest.com/pin/297237644…
I think it is a close match too.
The full paper can be found here, it's very interesting: bmcevolbiol.biomedcentral.com/…
A fellow deviant has produced this picture of Pentecopterus, it looks fairly faithful to the drawing from the paper, although he seems to have downplayed the lengths of the spines to some degree:
There is also this other picture which comes up a lot, but it is a very stylised artwork rather than a faithful reconstruction, so personally, I am more inclined to trust the interpretative drawing based on the fossils, but alas, here it is:
cdn.sci-news.com/images/enlarg…
On this page there also is an interview with one of the scientists who worked on piecing this arthropod together from the preserved fragments:
blogs.biomedcentral.com/bmcser…
It is over an hour long but it was still interesting to listen to.
Finally, after a lot of digging around for any other visual references, I have also found a 3D sculpt of Pentecopterus:
masahatto2.p2.bindsite.jp/_src…
It's definitely not been given a dynamic pose, but it still seems to match your photograph quite closely, especially in terms of where the spikes are, notably the very long spike half way down on leg 2. The surface texture of the exosleleton seems to have been exaggerated in the sculpt.
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THANX.
This certainly solves any question of the model's taxonomy.
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I want to plead #artisticlicence in that the spines appear shorter than they should be because they're angled funny
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I think that its extremities would have produced as much meat as two or three large king crabs.
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Yeah.. i think you'd have to eat it fresh, given how quickly crabs can go bad, and also know how to get rid of the inedible parts.
Plus, You'd have to keep live ones at the fish market...
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yeah... about keeping live ones... that might be a problem XD
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They'd kill the fishmonger before you could purchase any meat.
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Yeah... I am not sticking my hands into that fishtank. fingers are... handy... XD
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