Pterosaurs, March 2019 (Patreon)

In my continuing efforts to finish the enormous reptile chapter of The Big Book, I've been adding to the pterosaur section. This has reminded me that many lineages still need illustrating, so that's what I'm working on now (between other time-sapping projects). The pterosaur montage you see here was last published here in the December 2017 (https://www.patreon.com/posts/pterosaurs-dec-15754905) ... yikes ... and here's an updated version, the additions being (both at lower left) Istiodactylus and Darwinopterus.

Many more are still needed, so updates of this montage will be appearing soon. Plus I need to re-do the Dsungaripterus and Campylognathoides here, both of which have errors or I don't like.

Both of the new animals were reconstructed after getting the proportions right via measurements taken from reconstructed skeletals (in this case, those included in Witton 2013). Appropriate soft tissue outlines were then added. There's no colour data for  stiodactylus or Darwinopterus, so what's added here is entirely speculative. I assumed that the cranial crest and tail vane of Darwinopterus was for display, but its coloration is otherwise a generic one inspired by woodland-dwelling birds and bats. I didn't really have a plan for Istiodactylus: it was going to be given vaguely seabird-like patterns (not that I think it was a seabird analogue) but I realised that I liked the idea of it being mostly white, albeit with a dark face, dark dark wing-tips and a speckled pelage. Here are assorted sketches of the reconstructions coming together...

Until next time -- THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!