#stylonurus

'Devonian Crustacea' Scylonurus and Pterygotus from The past and present life of the globe. Being a sketch in outline of the world's life-system by David Page, 1861

That's right everyone, we've covered the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous periods, but now it's time for some prehistoric Merms from other eras of the ancient past!

Day 22: Aegirocassis

My friend @tipu-tipuan noted that the body of the Aegirocassis looked like a spinal column, and I am never able to unsee that.

Aegirocassis is a marine arthropod from the Ordovician, and one of the largest organisms of its time. It was a radiodont like Anomalocaris, however instead of using its front limbs to capture prey, it was instead a filter-feeder.

With the segmented body evoking the shape of a vertebral column, and by translating the front limbs into filamentous sleeves, you have something that resembles a skeletal, almost alien-looking priestess, conveying messages to spirits of the past, now forever entombed in the sands of time..

Day 23: Langstonia

Now I know that this technically doesn't count as an aquatic creature or.. even a Mesozoic creature for that matter.. but what am I to do with a prompt that featured a fully terrestrial Miocene crocodilian?

Anyways, I turned her into a ferocious croco-centaur warrior with a mean attitude. She WILL count herself as part of the mermaid club whether you like it or not. Langstonia girl doesn't give a fuck about semantics.

Day 24: Stylonurus

Stylonurus is a member of the eurypterid or sea scorpion family, and what a spindly, spiny critter it was!

This was one of the hardest ones to do this month. So much so that I had to scrap the original sketch page completely! Something about all the legs, segments, and spines really had me struggling.

The end result is worth the trouble though, love me my eurypterid monster girl.

Day 25: Yawunik

A Cambrian arthropod belonging to the Megacheiran or "great appendages" family, of which those claws were thought to be used to capture prey.

This was another one that took a lot of redrafting before coming up with a design I liked, but I knew I wanted the "great appendages" to be the main feature.

At first I didn't quite know what to make of a Yawunik Merm... I went through several revisions, before deciding that... Screw it, let's give her atomic arm cannons. And thus the nerdy gunsmith motif fell into place.

Day 26: Livyatan

While everyone talks about (Otodus) Megalodon as the greatest marine predator of its time, many are unaware of the formidable macroraptorial sperm whale relative Liviyatan melvillei, which was of comparable size and would've given Megalodon a run for it's money.

This was another piece that I tossed in a fun reference, given the species name of this animal, this Merm is both a grisly old peg-legged (or finned) sea captain, and the white whale rolled into one.

Day 27 & 28: Helicoprion and Edestus

What's this? TWO for the price of one??

When I saw Helicoprion and Edestus placed back to back on the prompt list, I couldn't resist myself to go with doing a duo piece for these freaky Eugeneodontid fish.

I went all in with an edgy spiked sawtooth motif for Helicoprion, whereas for Edestus, a scissor-jawed Futakuchi-onna seems approriate.

Day 29: Anomalocaris

The Radiodonts are personally some of my favorite groups of extinct life, in part due to their fascinating, unusual appearance unlike anything the world has seen since. Anomalocaris is by far the most well-known, in part due to it being one of the Earth's first "super predators", and possibly also a certain internet video that brought it to life in the public's consciousness..

Decided to play around with the anatomy with this one. Those hair buns are her actual eyes, and yes, that is a gaping hole of a mouth in her chest..

Day 30: Tullimonstrum

Even now, paleontologists still don't understand what on earth the 'Tully Monster' truly is. Some kind of strange mollusk? A primitive chordate relative?? Something else entirely??? All we can be sure of is that it is some kind of... bilateran. An animal whose body is symmetrical on both sides. That's it.

Whatever it was, it was a fascinatingly bizarre alien-like creature, whom I've chosen to depict in a suitably eerie alien form..

Day 31 (WILD CARD): Dunkleosteus

And we finally end Mermaysozoic with the wildcard prompt, to which I've selected Dunkleosteus!

I knew I wanted to end the month off with a bang, or at least a satisfying conclusion, so here is a knight lady bearing the maw of a giant armored fish.

I was nine days late when I initially finished this piece back in June, (now 198 days late posting it here at the time of writing :/ ) but whatever. Boom. Finally done.

The Stylonurus (1856)

Phylum : Arthropoda Class : Merostomata Order : Eurypteria Superfamily : Stylonuroidea Family : Stylonuridae Genus : Stylonurus Species : S. powriensis, S. shaffneri

Devonian

1,5 m long (size)

North America (map)

Stylonurids, which lived from the Ordovician to Lower Permian periods, were small to very large forms with scales developing into tubercules and knobs. The prosoma (head) exhibited variable shape, with arcuate compound eyes located subcentrally, or anteriorly. Their abdomens were slender. Their walking legs were long and powerful, sometimes characterized by spines. Most genera did not have swimming legs.