#archovember2020

#Archovember Day 25 - Massospondylus carinatus

Massospondylus was an early sauropodomorph, and one of the first dinosaurs to be named, in 1854!

Early sauropodomorphs were bipedal, and some may have even been omnivorous. Not quite as tall as it’s sauropod descendants, Massospondylus was still pretty big, at about 13 to 20 feet long it would have been able to stretch its long neck into the trees of the Southern African desert. It had a long, sharp thumb claw on each arm that could have been used for combat, to strip bark from trees, or even to dig.

#Archovember Day 7 - Vegavis iaai

Listen. I know what you’re thinking. “But... Sarita, this is just a goose.”

Here is what’s special about this goose. First of all it’s not a goose, but a close relative. We don’t have a skull, but we do have a syrinx that shows it was capable of honking. But here’s the most special part: it lived in Antarctica... during the late Cretaceous.

This means it lived at the same time as ankylosaurs, hadrosaurs, ceratopsians, dromaeosaurs, and tyrannosaurs: some of the most famous dinosaurs!

Among many other bird species from this era, Vegavis shows us that at this point birds were already in the diverse groups they are today. T. rex could have hunted waterfowl, small birds could have pecked at Spinosaurus’ teeth to clean them, the giant Quetzalcoatlus would have shared the skies with these small, agile dinosaurs.

Vegavis serves to remind us that we are very lucky to have this huge diverse group of dinosaurs still sharing this planet with us today.

#Archovember Day 8 - Geosternbergia sternbergi

Since I did Pterodactylus, I wanted to also include a Pteranodon, as those two pterosaurs seem to be the only ones the average layperson knows about. However, Geosternbergia has a cooler crest, in my opinion, and it’s close enough (it could be considered to either be a species of Pteranodon, or its direct ancestor.)

#Archovember Day 30 - Spinosaurus aegyptiacus

Our final entry for Archovember is Spinosaurus! Spinosaurus got a lot of attention this year after some exciting discoveries were released.

But first, to give some background: Spinosaurus was discovered in 1912 in Egypt, and then described in 1915. Of the remains found, there were pieces of jaw, teeth, some vertebrae, ribs, neural spines, and the gastralia. At this time Spinosaurus was usually depicted as a typical theropod, long-legged with a short snout, due to there being no limbs and the rest of its skull discovered. This original specimen was lost during WWI, when the British bombed the museum it was stored in. Nothing remains of this original specimen but detailed drawings and descriptions, and two photographs that were donated in 1995.

Since the 90s, more fragmentary remains were uncovered throughout Africa, including more pieces of skull and, in 2008 (but published in 2014), a more complete skeleton that showed the hind limbs were much shorter than we’d thought.

For many years Spinosaurus was assumed to be semi-aquatic, but there wasn’t much to prove this other than its teeth and jaws being adapted for eating fish. Until April 2020. As the 2008 skeleton continued to be excavated, scientists discovered a tail. This Spinosaurus’ sail seemed to continue down the length of its body, giving it a paddle-shaped, yet highly flexible tail!

With fish-eating jaws, short but powerful hind legs, and a newt-like paddle tail, it was clear that Spinosaurus would have likely spent all or most of its time in the water. It was definitely a much stranger animal than we could have imagined, and I hope for many more discoveries to be revealed!

The one in this drawing has come out to sun itself and is perhaps guarding a nest. I imagine it to have had a lifestyle like a loon; doing most everything in the water except nesting, looking absolutely ridiculous trying to get around on land, and looking ridiculously graceful in the water.

#Archovember Day 12 - Incisivosaurus gauthieri

The oddly toothed little nerd of the dinosaurs, Incisivosaurus is a small, primitive Oviraptorosaur.

Incisivosaurus’ well-preserved skull displays rodent-like buck teeth, which display wear that indicates a herbivorous, or omnivorous diet.

Just for fun, I made some size charts of all the dinosaurs, pterosaurs, pseudosuchians, and other archosauromorphs I’ve drawn for Dinovember both this year and last year. I did not realize I’ve drawn so many dinosaurs. 😬

#Archovember Day 19 - Austroraptor cabazai

Yes, I did in fact remember to include a raptor this year. 😅

#Archovember Day 21 - Kaprosuchus saharicus

Here he is. The Beast, the Myth, the Legend. The Boar Croc.