#ekrixinatosaurus

Anyway I didn't like Soap's colors so I changed them. Gaz is my next victim for a spontaneous redesign I think.

Blue fella is Graves as an Allosaurus Anax (Saurophaganax) while the rest of shadow company is Allosaurus fragilis, jimmadseni, etc etc cause I wanted it to be Graves and his mini Graves.

If you've been wondering what I have been doing, I have been working on my own indie-made children's graphic novel, inspired by books like Captain Underpants and Dogman. Other inspirations are tagged.

It's about a giganotosaurus trying to win the hearts of a Midwestern city's populace and fighting a revered yet shady tech billionaire along the way to earn that respect.

It's name means "Explosion born lizard" which is awesome on it's own but also tells the story of how it was found, a company digging a trench for a gas line discovered it after they blew it the fuck up with dynamite.

EKRIXINATOSAURUS NOVASI

LAGARTO NACIDO DE UNA EXPLOSION EN HONOR A NOVAS

El cráneo de Ekrixinatosaurus cuadrado y proporcionalmente más corto y más profundo que la mayoría de los otros dinosaurios carnívoros grandes. Las mandíbulas también se curvaron hacia arriba, un rasgo compartido con algunos otros abelisáuridos.

Al igual que en otros abelisáuridos, los huesos faciales, especialmente los huesos nasales, fueron esculpidos con numerosos agujeros pequeños y picos. En la vida, una piel arrugada y posiblemente queratinosa hubiera cubierto estos huesos.

Antes de su descubrimiento, Carnotaurus y Aucasaurus fueron los especímenes más completos de la familia Abelisauridae

En la escena está reconstruida una pareja de machos, uno de ellos con melanismo lo que le da un aspecto menos colorido, derribando un ejemplar joven de Andesaurus.

HABITÓ: Formación Candeleros (Neuquén)

HACE: 100 a 97 millones de años (Cretácico)

ES UN: Terópodo, Abelisáurido

MEDÍA: Hasta 7,5 m de largo

PESABA: 1 Tonelada

By Ripley Cook

Etymology: Reptile born of an Explosion

First Described By: Calvo et al., 2004

Classification: Dinosauromorpha, Dinosauriformes, Dracohors, Dinosauria, Saurischia, Eusaurischia, Theropoda, Neotheropoda, Averostra, Ceratosauria, Neoceratosauria, Abelisauroidea, Abelisauridae, Carnotaurinae, Brachyrostra

Status: Extinct

Time and Place: Between 100 and 97 million years ago, in the Cenomanian of the Late Cretaceous 

Ekrixinatosaurus is known from the Candeleros Formation of Neuquén, Argentina 

Physical Description: Ekrixinatosaurus is a typical, large Abelisaurid, with a similar body shape to other members of the group - a thick trunk, long flexible tail, robust hindlimbs, barely any forelimbs, a thick neck, and a boxy head. It was covered in scutes and scales all over its body, and probably had no feathers at all. Compared to other Abelisaurids, Ekrixinatosaurus had a very large head and even more robust limbs, allowing it to turn quicker than other theropods of its size. This was important, as it lived in an environment with many different large sauropods. However, its hind limbs were also shorter than relatives, indicating that it couldn’t run particularly fast. Compared to other Abelisaurids, its skull was very short and deep, sort of like the Pug of Abelisaurs; the jaw also curved upward, giving it the weird appearance of being smiling all the time. It was about 7.4 meters long, making it only somewhat smaller than the largest known abelisaurid (Carnotaurus at 7.8 meters long).

Diet: Ekrixinatosaurus would have eaten large herbivores in its environment, especially sauropods; though any medium to large sized animal would have been on the menu.

Behavior: Ekrixinatosaurus would have spent much of its time hunting prey, using its legs to maneuver through the environment to chase its large targets, and corner them to where they can’t escape. As such, Ekrixinatosaurus probably spent the majority of its time in the more arid parts of its environment, rather than the swampy bits. It’s possible that Ekrixinatosaurus would hunt in family groups to take down bigger prey, but there isn’t fossil evidence either way on that score. They probably would have also taken care of their young. 

By Scott Reid

Ecosystem: Ekrixinatosaurus lived in the Candeleros Formation of South America, which is a fun coincidence, because yesterday’s dinosaur did too! This was a braided river system, with a wide variety of swamps and very rich soil, and extensive sand deposits around the swamp area. Many fish, frogs, tuataras, turtles, snakes, and early mammals lived in this habitat, both in the wet swamp area and the more semi-arid landscape around it. Along with Ekrixinatosaurus, there were many other dinosaurs such as the very large Giganotosaurus which would have probably eaten Ekrixinatosaurus; the small fishing raptor Buitreraptor; a mysterious Coelurosaur Bicentenaria, an Alvarezsaurid Alnashetri, a probable Elasmarian, and many large sauropods for Ekrixinatosaurus to hunt - the Titanosaur Andesaurus and also Diplodocoids such as Limaysaurus, Nopcsaspondylus, and Rayososaurus.

Other: Ekrixinatosaurus was an Abelisaurid, it actually showcases how large-bodied Abelisaurids evolved before the huge Carnosaurs died out mid-way through the late Cretaceous; previously, hypotheses indicated that as the large Carnosaurs went extinct, the Abelisaurids “took their place”; but clearly that story is more complicated than it used to appear.

~ By Meig Dickson

Sources under the Cut