#thecodontosaurus

"What is to come"

(image id is both in the alt text and below the read more- I put it under one because it's incredibly long)

And so there we have it, the 200+ followers artpiece that I have been working on for several days, if I had to guess I'd say it took 25 or so hours over eleven days. Honestly it's so surreal to me that I'm here with over 200 followers (260 as of typing this- yes, I procrastinated on this), especially when I only hit 100 followers in February. It's genuinely really nice to know that people are actually interested in my art (before anyone brings up spam bots- I know there are a few of them amongst my followers but I've checked most of them and I am 100% confident that over 200 of them are real). I don't really have much else to say really- I'm just grateful to have the support. Thanks y'all :).

I added a cut, as anatomical ddrawings can make people feel a bit uncomfortable. I'm not sure how to feel about it myself yet.

I would say it is highly likely that they did! We currently have no direct evidence for or against feathers or scales on early sauropodomorphs, which means we have to rely on our understanding of other species.

We know that theropods and ornithischians posessed feathery structures at some point in their evolutionary history, and we know that pterosaurs were also fuzzy! There's actually new research that indicates pterosaur fluff does in fact share a common ancestor with dinosaur fluff, meaning all dinosaurs and pterosaurs are most likely descended from a feathered ancestor.

So what does this mean for sauropodomorphs? Well, given the earliest dinosaur was most likely feathered, early sauropodomorphs probably inherited their fluff! They were still small and vulnerable in the Triassic, and a fluffy coat like I've given this Thecodontosaurus would have helped them survive.

Image ID: Digital illustration of Thecodontosaurus, a small early sauropodomorph. It is a slender bipedal dinosaur, with a long tail and long, clawed arms. Its body is partially covered with a coat of feathers, except for the head and neck, which have bare, wrinkled skin like a turkey. The legs and belly are also bare, and coloured a pale brown. The feathers are dark brown, with white stripes on the quill-like feathers at the base of the tail. The head is mottled grey and yellow, with a blue face and red eye. Its body is turned towards the viewer, with one foot raised in an active pose. End ID.

However, as sauropodomorphs grew larger they probably outgrew their fluffy coats, as they would provide less protection than their large size already did and a heavy coat would risk overheating. Larger sauropodomorphs, such as the early Jurassic Lufengosaurus, may have had a few residual areas of fuzzy skin like today's giant mammals, but were probably scaly overall.

Image ID: Digital illustration of Lufengosaurus, a large bipedal sauropodomorph with a long neck and heavy torso and tail. The skin is scaly, except for a light dusting of feathers on the back and underside of the neck. Its body is light grey with darker spots on the back and light stripes on the tail. The neck fades to orange towards the small head, which is coloured a dark brown. The Lufengosaurus is in a walking pose, with both feet on the ground. End ID.

Running Thecodontosaurus antiquus, a basal sauropodomorph from the Late Triassic (Rhaetian) of Southern England. This reptile was described in 1836 from finds from a quarry in present-day Bristol. Then it was classified as squamate, and the name ("lizard with teeth in sockets" in translation) emphasized the differences in the fastening of teeth). It was only in 1870 that Thomas Huxley attributed Thecodontosaurus to dinosaurs (now it is obvious that all dinosaurs had thecodont teeth attachment). Later, many bones were found in the "fissure fillings", some of which were destroyed during the bombing of Bristol. Today, about 245 fragmentary fossils are known, from which it is possible to make up almost an entire skeleton. In 1891, the supposedly Australian material of Thecodontosaurus was separated into the genus Agrosaurus, but it turned out that it was incorrectly labeled. One juvenile specimen was describes as the genus Pantydraco in 2007. Thecodontosaurus was a small long-tailed dinosaur, the largest specimens were 2.5 m in length (and the average length was only 1.2 m). Michael Benton noted in 2000 that there was a robust morph among Thecodontosaurus. This may indicate sexual dimorphism.

Here I tried to convey the scaly integument with vertical hatching. Let's see how this method will manifest itself in future works. :) The filaments are speculative.

Islands are natural sites for evolutionary experiments. Their isolation and limited resources put a lot of selective pressure on their native species, often resulting in spectacular and unique adaptations. Big animals become small, small animals become big, and ecological niches can end up being filled in unexpected ways.

From the dodo becoming the first well-known example of human-caused extinction, to Darwin’s Galápagos finches being influential in the development of the theory of natural selection, to famous-but-endangered living examples like the kiwi and marine iguana, island species are fascinating and often fragile examples of how diverse life can get even in restricted conditions.

In fact, this theme ended up containing so many species I wanted to feature that I can’t possibly fit them all into just a single month. So, for the first time, a theme is going to need two months -- with part 1 happening right now, and part 2 coming later this summer.

Island Weirdness #01 -- Thecodontosaurus antiquus

For much of the Mesozoic Europe was an archipelago of islands in a shallow tropical sea. During the Late Triassic, about 205-201 million years ago, some of the paleo-islands in this region existed around southern Wales and South West England, near the city of Bristol.

Thecodontosaurus was actually one of the first non-avian dinosaurs ever named by modern science, discovered in the mid 1830s -- several years before the term “dinosaur” was even created to classify the "great ancient lizards”.

It was an early member of the herbivorous sauropodomorphs, the group that would eventually include the largest ever land animals. But unlike its enormous later cousins it was short-necked and bipedal, and was particularly small compared to other contemporary “prosauropods”, measuring only about 2m long (6′6″). This would make it one of the oldest known examples of insular dwarfism.