Repostober 7: He stretch his leggy out real far! Anchiornis from 2018, a piece from grad school.
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Anchiornis
Anchiornis is a small paravian dinosaur from the Late Jurassic of China. It could grow to around 60 cm in body length with a wingspan nearly as wide, and weighed about 1 kg. In addition to the front wings, Anchiornis had long feathers on the hind legs, leading many scientists to call it a four-winged dinosaur. Thanks to an extremely well-preserved specimen, scientists have been able to study the melanosomes in the feathers and determine the full body colors and patterns of Anchiornis. The body was mainly black and gray and the primary feathers were white with black tips and patterns. It also sported a red crest on the top of its head.
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#Archovember Day 1 - Your Choice!
In my ongoing effort to draw all the non-avian dinosaurs we know the colors of, I’ve chosen Anchiornis huxleyi!
The type species for the Anchiornithids (“near birds”), Anchiornis huxleyi was a crow-sized dinosaur living in the Late Jurassic of Liaoning, China. It was relatively common, as hundreds of specimens have been uncovered in this area. But what makes Anchiornis so unique and important is that it was the first Mesozoic dinosaur species to have its entire life appearance be known by man! Having hundreds of well-preserved fossils available allows us to extract a lot of information about not only its size and shape, but its skin, feathers, and even coloration. Anchiornis had long wing feathers on its arms and legs (though its leg feathers were not as long as those of Microraptorians), fluffy downy feathers all over its body, a feathered crest on its head, and feathers covering its feet.
Only two Anchiornis fossils have had their well-preserved melanosomes studied so far. By comparing the structure of these melanosomes to modern birds, paleontologists have been able to infer the life colors of Anchiornis! It had mostly gray and black body feathers and white forewing and hindwing feathers with black tips. Its tail colors remain unknown. The first specimen of Anchiornis to be surveyed for melanosomes also had red or rufous coloring on its crest, as well as rufous speckles on its otherwise black and gray head. However, the second specimen did not have any rufous coloration. This may be due to different preservation of melanosomes, different investigative techniques, the animals in question having regional differences or even being different species/subspecies, the second Anchiornis being younger, or sexual dimorphism.
While Anchiornis had rather large feathered forelimbs, it didn’t seem to have been much of a flier. Unlike the later Microraptorians, its wings were rounded and relatively short compared to other flying dinosaurs, and the flimsy flight feathers overlapped each other to strengthen them. A 2016 study concluded that while juvenile Anchiornis may have been able to use their wings to assist with leaping through the trees, adults were simply too heavy and their wings too small to gain any lift. Instead, it is more likely their wings were used for display. As their legs were long, they may have been adapted for speed, using their wings to aid in aerodynamics as they quickly darted through the underbrush.
Pellets (such as those coughed up by owls) have been found both within and in association with Anchiornis, and contained lizard bones and fish scales. Prey items that could have also been eaten by Anchiornis include insects, arachnids, salamanders, small anurognathids (such as Cascocauda, who we will be visiting later this month) and other small or juvenile pterosaurs, and small cynodonts like Agilodocodon and Juramaia.
Anchiornis lived alongside other Anchiornithids such as Aurornis, Caihong, Eosinopteryx, Pedopenna, Serikornis, Xiaotingia, as well as the Scansoriopterygids Yi, Scansoriopteryx, and Epidexipteryx. It also lived alongside the quilled heterodontosaurid Tianyulong.
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Extinct Animal Art: POST 1
I've been creating some assets for @palearaptor's Twitch streams. From time to time she has daily dino segments so I made some arts for them. <3 Here's the ones released so far.
ANCHIORNIS:
A winged dinosaur from the late Jurassic. We know its colors! Dark grey to black body with some white striping and flight feathers. It had a red crest.
ANUROGNATHUS:
Not a dinosaur! This little critter was a pterosaur from the later Jurassic. There were a few species, but this art is based on the holotype Anurognathus ammoni.
HETERODONTOSAURUS:
An early Jurassic dinosaur whose name means "different tooth." This is an herbivore, but probably used those sharp teeth for defense and display.
MIRAGAIA:
A stegosaurid dinosaur with the longest neck of all stegosaurs so far. Like all stegosauridae, it lived during the Jurassic period. There's some debate on how its spines were arranged, but this is the most accepted so far. It did NOT have shoulder spines like kentrosaurus.
PROTOCERATOPS:
Protoceratops, a dinosaur from the late Cretaceous. Although its name means "first horned face," it actually came AFTER some of the more popular ceratopsians like Diablo ceratops. It is still considered an "early" ceratopsian. It was famously tangled in a life-and-death struggle with a velociraptor where both animals died and were fossilized together.
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DINOVEMBER - DAY 21
He just look so silly... I love him (Anchiornis) @1dinodaily.
As always, you can get all these cute stuff in my redbubble
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My 16th entry for Jurassic July 2023: Anchiornis huxleyi, a small, cat-sized paravian which lived 163-145 million years ago in what is now the Tiaojishan Formation of Liaoling, China, was discovered and named in 2009 and it predated the more famous Archaeopteryx by nearly 15 million years in the evolution of birds. Anchiornis is known from hundreds of specimens, some of which are well-preserved, and was the first Mesozoic dinosaur species whose entire life appearance could be determined.
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