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Extinct Animal Questions
Topic Started: Nov 26 2013, 10:24 PM (193,274 Views)
Furka
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So do we know what the skin pattern on it was like (beside the tail which IIRC was banded) ?
I am working on a reconstruction, and I'd like to make it faithful enough without just copying the skin from Saurian or such.
Edited by Furka, Aug 14 2016, 02:23 PM.
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Incinerox
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Āeksiot Zaldrīzoti

We know the arrangement of scales across the board for the species, yes.

Saurian demonstrated this point with their colour scheme. They went and created theirs by colour coordinating patterns based on scale size ie. larger scales = darker colour / smaller scales = lighter colour, from the looks of it.

It's as good an assumption as any (and honestly a very interesting exercise in demonstrating the point of just how incredibly detailed our knowledge on Anatosaurus's soft tissue is), but it isn't foolproof. Even so, simply picking a different colour palette and some modifications to the overall design (namely some of the transitions between pattern types) could be enough to differentiate your own from their design.

Personally I found it odd seeing Saurian's that shade of green. Good camouflage, but it IS weird seeing something with such a range of patterns and display features along its whole back and on its face look so subdued. The blue and red makes the male's face look a bit out of place, like they didn't know entirely what else to do.

Personal opinion of course. That isn't to say I disliked it, either.

But I feel it'd have been more interesting with a more vivid colour contrast. I have my own ideas I want to try myself, but I'd rather not blurt them out so as to prevent people from ninja-ing me for it.

Look to modern lepidosaurs and archosaurs for ideas.

As for soft tissue itself, well there's only so much you can do to change that. It IS just another animal after all.
Edited by Incinerox, Aug 14 2016, 05:51 PM.
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MightyFan217
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OH YESSS!

How big is Palaeothele?
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Incinerox
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Āeksiot Zaldrīzoti

Well... It simply wasn't.

Posted Image

Ignore everything else, just focus on the image labelled D.

See the scalebar at the bottom left edge of the sample? That's 0.1mm.
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MightyFan217
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OH YESSS!

Incinerox
Aug 15 2016, 07:13 PM
Well... It simply wasn't.

Posted Image

Ignore everything else, just focus on the image labelled D.

See the scalebar at the bottom left edge of the sample? That's 0.1mm.
Dang. Then what would have been the closest spider around during the Carboniferous to have reached the sizes of the now reclassified Megarachne?
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Incinerox
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Āeksiot Zaldrīzoti

None. No spider of that magnitude has ever been found. Megarachne was it.

In fact, the largest fossil spider ever found belongs to a relative of modern Deinopoidea spiders, Mongolarachne. And that came from Middle Jurassic China.

And it was only the size of modern orb weavers.

We live in the time with the largest known spiders ever.
Edited by Incinerox, Aug 16 2016, 10:09 AM.
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heliosphoros
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Not a question but I think it's very neat:

http://kenbrasai.tumblr.com/post/149047361488/lingual-view-of-ustl-thr-414-a-jaw-fragment
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Paleop
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Paleopterix

is there any evidence against giving tyrannosaurs more advanced penacious feathers?
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Acinonyx Jubatus
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I AM THE UNSHRINKWRAPPER!

Paleop
Aug 18 2016, 08:54 PM
is there any evidence against giving tyrannosaurs more advanced penacious feathers?
Just Phylogenetic bracketing, I think.
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Incinerox
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Āeksiot Zaldrīzoti

Yutyrannus and Dilong.
Edited by Incinerox, Aug 19 2016, 05:03 AM.
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heliosphoros
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Keep in mind several studies have shown that supposedly simple feathers are actually decomposed more complex feathers (Sinosauropteryx, for example), so complex feathers might extend further back into the coelurosaur tree than previously thought.
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BossMan, Jake
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Son of God

(For lack of a better source) The WWD ankylosaurus is depicted with a very stiffened tail when it swings at the T-Rex showing very little flexing however I'm seeing a few more reconstructed showing a very flexible tail able to flex far more. Which was more accurate and for the sake of curiosity were stegosaur tails the same way?
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Incinerox
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Āeksiot Zaldrīzoti

Stegosaur tails were actually unusually flexible and that, despite appearances, the plates wouldn't have been all that restrictive. They had shorter, more densely packed vertebrae in their tails than other ornithischians, and were among the few to have lacked ossified tendons.
http://static.squarespace.com/static/51bf1cd3e4b0a897bf54112b/51bf6665e4b090c42fe6cf72/51bf6bcae4b05a61167e2b5d/1382744703126/Stegosaurus.jpg
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b337/Miz_Giv/2A%20Refs/stegosaurus_stenops2_zps8e1b9269.jpg
http://scienceblogs.com/tetrapodzoology/wp-content/blogs.dir/471/files/2012/05/i-3d7f6013654ebdf65b4b54672e02764c-Heinrich-Mallison-CAD-Kentrosaurus-tail-Jan-2011.jpg

Basal ankylosaurs may not have been all that different. If you look at things like Sauropelta, they have fairly flexible tails to the end (and are even preserved with their tails articulated nicely in an S-bend).
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/97/Sauropelta.jpg

However, as they progressed, they did in fact evolve ossified tendons at more or less the end-half of their tails, forming what would be basically like one of these on a highly mobile tail base. For those of you that need explanation, that is what the Mayans used in place of a sword - essentially a hyper-sharp obsidian-lined cricket bat. A heavy, EXTREMELY sharp weapon capable of doing blunt force trauma and severe lacerations against an unarmoured opponent. I think Gobisaurus or Cedarpelta were the species that demonstrated this best. I'll have to double check some time.

Anyway, as time went on and ankylosaurids took over, they developed their ossified tendons, and their sharp osteoderms solidified and became what essentially looks and functions like the handle and head of a giant mallet. The ossified tendons that stiffened the tail to brace for heavy impacts now became a key support structure to counter the weight of the tail club. But this only occurs on the second half of the tail.
http://pre01.deviantart.net/a25f/th/pre/i/2016/167/8/c/heavy_armored_special_by_getawaytrike-da6jmkn.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b2/Ankylosaurus_tail_terminology.png

So Walking with Dinosaurs was kinda wrong. If you watch closely, you'll see that the whole tail actually arcs around while it swings, but the arc itself is very shallow, implying that the whole tail was moderately stiff. In life, the base itself would have been highly mobile, but ALL tail motion would take place at the base.
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saurianne
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What are some fossil animals that could've done well living in a cooler mountain region? I'd especially like to know this for:
1) Cenozoic fauna in general
2) non-equine perissodactyls specifically
3) maybe two or three Mesozoic animals
Please and thank you
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Incinerox
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Āeksiot Zaldrīzoti

I'm afraid to say that #2 is a bit of a connundrum. None of the perissodactyla seem to have been present in confirmed mountainous regions. Only the Mountain Tapir. And that's alive. Unless I've missed something, of course. Generally, you're looking at lowland rainforest, scrubland or plains animals here.

However, it's possible that generally speaking, ice age species could do well in mountainous regions. What tends to happen is that lowland animals from a glacial maximum tend to either move higher in altitude, or further north to escape the warming climates. Look to the ice ages for ideas, perhaps?

As for Mesozoic animals, literally anything from the South Pole, North Pole or Northeast China and Russia might suit your needs.
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