Pterosaurs # 3, March 2019 (Patreon)

Some more new pterosaurs -- I opted to make a start on ctenochasmatoids, the group that includes Pterodactylus and the various fine-toothed suspension-feeders, like Ctenochasma and Pterodaustro. At right here (in front of stripey Zhenyuanopterus) is Pterodactylus, and to the left is Ctenochasma. Both of these animals prove to be rather long-limbed, tall, long-necked animals where the wings fold up very neatly. Ctenochasma has such long upper arms that I had to slant the body up at a high angle, a thing present in several pterodactyloid lineages. Some specific notes....

Pterodactylus - long regarded as a bland and boring pterosaur - has more recently been shown to be an elaborate animal, with a soft crest (a 'lappet' at the back of the top of the head) and a tall, rounded crest on the dorsal surface of the snout. Soft tissues demonstrate the presence of a gular pouch and an extensive coat of pycnofibers. As per usual, I took measurements from skeletons to get the proportions right. The feet are surprisingly long, but that's typical for this group. Tooth form, jaw shape and what we know of ecology indicates that this was an animal that lived something like a cross between a wader and a gull, so I had these sorts of birds in mind when devising the colour scheme here. The crests were depicted as display surfaces.

Ctenochasma is known from near-complete skeletons. As per many pterodactyloids, a fibrous crest along the midline of the snout means that a tall cranial crest was present, which I again reconstructed as a display surface. Again, this was clearly a lagoon-frequenting animal that might have lived something like a wader or shorebird, so its mostly black and white colour scheme reflects that. The key thing here is the teeth. For the first time ever, I opted not to draw the teeth by hand -- the many fine teeth I produced for  Zhenyuanopterus showed me how bad I am at that -- but to instead draw them digitally. So I added (in photoshop) numerous near-parallel straight lines. They aren't exactly like the real teeth of Ctenochasma (where they're gently curved instead of straight), but I think they look realistic enough. I'm hoping it works. I'll use the same technique on Pterodaustro (which I aim to do next).

Here's how the whole montage looks right now. As always, this is provisional and things will be moved around (and altered for contrast and so on) for the final book. 

Thanks as always :)