HOME | DD

Description
One of the more famous cryptids out there the Ropen is a rather interesting thing to read about.

The Ropen (meaning demon flyer) is a creature that has been reported in New Guinea, often described as a pterosaur with some rather odd physical and behavioural traits. Being said to look like a massive featherless creature that flies in the Southwest Pacific, and has a tail-length more than 25% of its wingspan which is also bioluminescent and nocturnal. It’s also said to have a strange taste for human flesh, digging up fresh graves to feed on the carrion below. There’s apparently different types of Ropen as well with the one often called Ropen with a 1 meter wingspan (3.2ft) and the one referred to as the Duah with a 6m (20ft). Funnily enough a lot of these traits are shared with the Kongamato, another pterosaur cryptid this time from Africa which might add some weight to the Ropen’s existence.

Now this might not sound strange to a lot of people, but certain traits of the Ropen definitely seem strange. First it’s long tail and apparent lack of feathers, with pretty much every larger pterosaur having rather small tails, losing the need of them for stability in flight, and we now know ALL pterosaurs where covering in a hair like covering of pyctofibers which do look like feathers to the untrained eye. How can this be explained? Misidentification and adaption of course.

The Ropen, if it does truly scavenge off human remains might show adaptations for scavenging as well as being a generalist predator, with large powerful hindlimbs modified for holding carcasses still or maybe help unearth any meat buried beneath and have a bald head for keeping clean and help thermoregulate. This bald head and tight coat of pictofibres could explain why it’s often described as featherless especially if viewed from afar or from the front. It’s tail is interesting since unlike existing known pterosaur tails, it’s less for fight and more as a display organ that can be waved around like a flag to signal other members of the species or even distract predators away from the head defensively, it also seemingly evolved separately from other long tail pterosaurs with thus new feature in mind. The legness appearance could also be misidentification too since they are covered by its wings on the ground and tucked up during flight. Its bioluminescence is an interesting topic since bioluminescence is generally not found in terrestrial vertebrates, although it’s definitely something that could have evolved especially if the Ropen has fish eating habits or evolved from a fish eating ancestor, was also used for communication or simple didn’t show up in the fossil record.

Now this begs the question, what type of pterosaur is it? And there isn’t really a popular opinion on what type, most going the Rhamphorhynchid because of the tail but I’m going to have to go with an Azhdarchoid since they are one of the last surviving pterosaur groups, where rather large and members like Thalassodromeus already show adaptations such as powerful limbs. Azhdarchoids like Thalassodromeus and Tupuxuara do match the size of the larger Duah rather closely as well. All in all it’s an interesting topic and I still kinda feel like pterosaurs need more love so here’s Ropen in all its glory.

side note: despite the names not being related in any way, anyone else find it kinda funny Ropen and Rodan have such similar names? Idk this could just be me

Description
One of the more famous cryptids out there the Ropen is a rather interesting thing to read about.

The Ropen (meaning demon flyer) is a creature that has been reported in New Guinea, often described as a pterosaur with some rather odd physical and behavioural traits. Being said to look like a massive featherless creature that flies in the Southwest Pacific, and has a tail-length more than 25% of its wingspan which is also bioluminescent and nocturnal. It’s also said to have a strange taste for human flesh, digging up fresh graves to feed on the carrion below. There’s apparently different types of Ropen as well with the one often called Ropen with a 1 meter wingspan (3.2ft) and the one referred to as the Duah with a 6m (20ft). Funnily enough a lot of these traits are shared with the Kongamato, another pterosaur cryptid this time from Africa which might add some weight to the Ropen’s existence.

Now this might not sound strange to a lot of people, but certain traits of the Ropen definitely seem strange. First it’s long tail and apparent lack of feathers, with pretty much every larger pterosaur having rather small tails, losing the need of them for stability in flight, and we now know ALL pterosaurs where covering in a hair like covering of pyctofibers which do look like feathers to the untrained eye. How can this be explained? Misidentification and adaption of course.

The Ropen, if it does truly scavenge off human remains might show adaptations for scavenging as well as being a generalist predator, with large powerful hindlimbs modified for holding carcasses still or maybe help unearth any meat buried beneath and have a bald head for keeping clean and help thermoregulate. This bald head and tight coat of pictofibres could explain why it’s often described as featherless especially if viewed from afar or from the front. It’s tail is interesting since unlike existing known pterosaur tails, it’s less for fight and more as a display organ that can be waved around like a flag to signal other members of the species or even distract predators away from the head defensively, it also seemingly evolved separately from other long tail pterosaurs with thus new feature in mind. The legness appearance could also be misidentification too since they are covered by its wings on the ground and tucked up during flight. Its bioluminescence is an interesting topic since bioluminescence is generally not found in terrestrial vertebrates, although it’s definitely something that could have evolved especially if the Ropen has fish eating habits or evolved from a fish eating ancestor, was also used for communication or simple didn’t show up in the fossil record.

Now this begs the question, what type of pterosaur is it? And there isn’t really a popular opinion on what type, most going the Rhamphorhynchid because of the tail but I’m going to have to go with an Azhdarchoid since they are one of the last surviving pterosaur groups, where rather large and members like Thalassodromeus already show adaptations such as powerful limbs. Azhdarchoids like Thalassodromeus and Tupuxuara do match the size of the larger Duah rather closely as well. All in all it’s an interesting topic and I still kinda feel like pterosaurs need more love so here’s Ropen in all its glory.

side note: despite the names not being related in any way, anyone else find it kinda funny Ropen and Rodan have such similar names? Idk this could just be me