#chindesaurus

Recently, I finished a drawing I started last year. This is Chindesaurus bryansmalli, a basal saurischian dinosaur from the Late Triassic of the United States. Its holotype was found in Petrified Forest National Park (Arizona). It consists of vertebrae, leg bones, a chevron, pelvic fragments, and rib pieces. The specimen was nicknamed Gertie after the cartoon dinosaur. Numerous other bones, including some older than the holotype, have been attributed to Chindesaurus, but they are now considered to lack the distinctive characteristics of this species. Initially considered a sauropodomorph, the dinosaur was classified in the herrerasaurid family when it was described in 1995. Later, in 2016, it was reclassified as a possible basal theropod named Tawa hallae. Chindesaurus could have reached a length of 2-3 meters. It coexisted with the better-known Coelophysis bauri.

The protofeather covering in the drawing (like the entire reconstruction) is speculative.

Petrified Forest - Part 4.

Even before I arrived at the Petrified Forest, I was pretty excited about the idea of getting to barrel out into the desert at night, and wander until I got lost enough to want to find my way back(or had gotten through 1/2 of my water). My friend Nathan came out to visit me for a couple days, and was a perfect “wandering out into the desert” companion, especially when he had to physically shove me up a cliff.

By Ashley Patch on @apatchsketches​

Name: Chindesaurus bryansmalli 

Name Meaning: Bryan Small's Ghost Lizard 

First Described: 1995 

Described By: Long et Murry 

Classification: Dinosauria, Saurischia, Eusaurischia, Theropoda, Herrerasauridae (under debate)

Chindesaurus bryansmalli is a basal saurischian known from five incomplete specimens, potentially six. It is from the late Triassic period, from the late Carnian stage to the early Norian, about 225 million years ago. It was found in the Petrified Forest formation in Arizona, the Chinle Formation and the Bull Canyon Formation in New Mexico, and the Tecovas Formation in Texas. It's cladistic position is up for debate, with it being a possible Herrerasaurid or simply a basal theropod. It lived in an area that was once an ancient floodplain, with many archosaurian neighbors and competing with Coelophysis for resources, and it was a bipedal predator. The genus Caseosaurus is disputed to actually be a species of Chindesaurus, or the same dinosaur as Chindesaurus bryansmalli. 

Sources: 

Weishampel, D. B. (2007). The Dinosauria (2nd ed.). Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caseosaurus

http://planetdi.startlogic.com/dinosaurs_by_category/triassic_dinosaurs/chindesaurus_bryansmalli.htm