#bellubrunnus

Last year I decided to conduct an experiment. Its essence was to draw an animal based on a reference, but using only a pen when creating a sketch. As a result, I made these two drawings.

It is a rhamphorhynchid pterosaur Bellubrunnus rothgaengeri from the Late Jurassic of Southern Germany. It is known for a small individual less than a year old. Its characteristic feature is the forward-curving terminal phalanges of the fourth finger which supports a patagium. In the process of creating the drawing, I encountered difficulties in conveying the position of the left wing in space. I had to use white gouache and make corrections so that the drawing didn't look too distorted.

The second drawing is a megalosaurid theropod Dubreuillosaurus valesdunensis from the Middle Jurassic of France. There were much fewer problems with transferring the shape of the skull to paper, because I am more familiar with theropods as an object of drawing than with pterosaurs. In the previous case, the result was not bad, but I like this portrait more. :) Dubreuillosaurus is known from the incomplete skeleton of a 5 meters long immature individual. At first it was described as a species of the genus Poekilopleuron, but in 2005 it was separated as an independent genus.

By Joschua Knüppe, retrieved from http://www.pteros.com/, a website dedicated to education about Pterosaurs.

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Name: Bellubrunnus rothgaengeri

Name Meaning: The Beautiful One of Brunn

First Described: 2012

Described By: Hone et al. 

Classification: Avemetatarsalia, Ornithodira, Pterosauromorpha, Pterosauria, Macronychoptera, Novialoidea, Breviquartossa, Ramphorhynchidae, Ramphorhynchinae

Bellubrunnus is our first Rhamphorhynchid, the group of early-derived pterosaurs closely related to Rhamphorhynchus. It is known from a specimen of a juvenile that was originally lumped in with Rhamphorhynchus before being found to be distinctly different. It was found in the Kohlstatt Quarry of the Solnhofen Limestone of Germany, living about 151 million years ago in the Kimmeridgian age of the Late Jurassic period. It is the only known pterosaur from that locality and, as such, it probably filled the same ecological niche as Rhamphorhynchus, feeding on fish in its archipelago and marine habitat. It may even be possible that it’s the direct ancestor of Rhamphorhynchus, but this requires more research and specimens. 

By Matt Van Rooijen, CC BY 2.5

It is distinct from Rhamphorhynchus in having fewer teeth in its jaws, and it had a more flexible tail, though some of these differences are uncertain in whether or not they’re due to the young age of the specimen - ie, due to ontogeny. It also had wing tips that curved forward, which may have allowed for increased maneuverability in the air, though that is also uncertain. It also could have stabilized soft tissue of the wing membranes, but that is also unclear due to the single specimen of the animal. It probably lived in a community very similar to the Solnhofen Limestone of Rhamphorhynchus, though fossil evidence of such is lacking. 

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bellubrunnus

http://www.pteros.com/pterosaurs/bellubrunnus.html

Line drawing of the holotype of the Pterosaur Bellubrunnus rothgaengeri

Abbreviations as follows for this and, where appropriate, subsequent figures: cdv, caudal vertebrae; chv, chevron; co, coracoid; cp, carpus; cs, cristospine; cr, cervical rib; cv, cervical vertebrae; dr, dorsal rib; dv, dorsal vertebrae; fb, fibula; fe, femur; g, gastralium; hu, humerus; il, ilium; ish, ischium; mc, metacarpal; md, manual digit; mn, manus; pb, pubis; pd, pedal digit; ppb, prepubis; ptd, pteroid; r, ribs; rad, radius; sc, scapula; sk, skull; st, sternum; ul, ulna; wmc, wing metacarpal; wpx, wing phalanx. Single column width.

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0039312.g003

One of the authors of the paper, Dave Hone, has several posts about it on his blog:

http://archosaurmusings.wordpress.com/2012/07/05/introducing-bellubrunnus/

http://archosaurmusings.wordpress.com/2012/07/05/bellubrunnus-definition-diagnosis-and-why-its-not-rhamphorhycnhus/

http://archosaurmusings.wordpress.com/2012/07/06/brunn-not-the-solnhofen/