#and also not paleoart

[alphynix]

Strange Symmetries #20: The 16 Million Year Fiddler Crab Rave

Many decapod crustaceans have slightly asymmetrical pincers, often with one claw being chunkier and specialized for "crushing" while the other is more slender and used for "cutting".

But fiddler crabs take this sort of asymmetry to the extreme as part of their sexual dimorphism – males have one massively oversized claw, which is used for both visual display to potential mates and for physical fights against rivals.

Some of the earliest fiddler crabs are known from the Miocene of what is now northern Brazil. Although the fossils have been given several different taxonomic names since their discovery in the 1970s (including Uca maracoani antiqua, Uca antiqua, and Uca inaciobritoi) they're currently considered to be indistinguishable from the modern Brazilian fiddler crab, Uca maracoani, meaning that these crabs have remained externally unchanged for the last 16 million years.

Up to about 4cm in carapace width (~1.6"), modern Uca maracoani are found in coastal mangrove swamps and tidal mudflats around the northern and eastern coasts of South America – and some of these environments have also undergone little change since the Miocene. Males of the species can develop their enlarged pincer on either side of their bodies, with lefties and righties seeming to occur in equal numbers.

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NixIllustration.com | Tumblr | Twitter | Patreon

#science illustration #strange symmetries #paleontology #paleoart #and also not paleoart #palaeoblr #uca maracoani #brazilian fiddler crab #fiddler crab #ocypodidae #brachyura #crab #decapod #crustacea #arthropod #invertebrate #living fossil #art #crab rave

[barghest-land]

gentle one ornithocheirus 🤍

#barghestland #paleoland #paleoart #palaeoblr #pterosaur #ornithocheirus #i have many feelings about pterosaurs they are so pretty to me #also i don't draw low contrast things often but i tried !!

[lazer-t]

Mononykus olecranus for a $15 Ko-fi supporter

Stickers

#yes i did partially base this on the prehistoric planet design because how could i not #also after finishing this it occurred to me grass like this probably didnt exist yet #oh well pretend its revived clone or something #art #my art #digital #digital art #kofi #ko-fi #kofi request #kofi commissions #request #commission #commissioned work #doodle #mononykus #mononykus olecranus #paleoart #dinosaur #theropod #lazert #lazer-t #kofi doodles

[pearlwingdraws]

Shake shake

#my art #raptor #velociraptor #paleoart #paleo art #dinosaur #you guys seemed to like the other little friends I posted and they were fun to draw so #here’s another heheh #art hack: draw dino. look up some random bird. take inspiration. #also if anyone has any requests or stuff like that feel free to send them lol

[bookrat]

Got a Dromaeosaurus bust for sale for $450

#it's 23 inches long #sculpture #feathered dinosaurs #for sale #dromaeosaur #paleoart #I just feel very strongly that dromaeosaurus should be vulture-y looking #also wow I sure do get a lot done when I'm not dying from too much temperatures half the year

[ostracartderms]

A eurypterid in a tidepool

#this is also from about a year and a half ago #eurypterid #chelicerates #palaeoart #paleoart

[the-dragon-girl-27]

herd of Pliohippus playing in the snow.

speedraw

#paleoblr #paleoart #Pliohippus #cenozoic #horse #some other animals in the background but imma not bother taggin #also i definatley drew that bird beak wrong but as long as i don't say what species it is you wont know that #dragon draws creatures

[teethands]

babys first delve into blockbench. i dont know how to rig him up so he can move besides the jaw but i think he is nice for my first attempt at a model

#ive used tabula before but this is similar and also way better #blockbench #paleoart #quetzalcoatlus #rorys art

[monster-musings]

Happy Pride Month!

Dinosaurs are for Everyone!

#pride #pride month #dinosaurs #tyrannosaurus rex #paleoart #made directly in protest of the chuckle fucks trying to codify dinosaurs as anti-queer once again #also happy dinosaur day for those who celebrate #my art

[cypressure]

couple of birds for last night's paleostream (Sao Miguel Scops Owl, Kosmoceratops)

#paleostream #paleoart #paleoblr #dinosaurs #kosmoceratops #there was also a parrot. but i didnt like those as much so im keeping them to myself #procreate #digital art

[alphynix]

Last week I mentioned the one oddball dinosauriform that had crocodilian-like osteoderm armor, so let's take a look at that one too.

Lewisuchus admixtus lived in what is now northwest Argentina during the late Triassic, around 236-234 million years ago. About 1m long (3'3"), it was an early member of the silesaurids – a group of dinosauriforms that weren't quite dinosaurs themselves, but were very closely related to the earliest true dinosaurs.

(They've also been proposed as instead being early ornithisichians, but we're not getting into that today.)

Much like its later silesaurid relatives Lewisuchus had a long neck and slender limbs, and was probably mainly quadrupedal, possibly with the ability to briefly run bipedally to escape from threats. Its serrated teeth suggest it was carnivorous, likely feeding on both smaller vertebrates and the abundant insects found in the same fossil beds.

Uniquely for an early dinosauriform it also had a single row of bony osteoderms running along its spine. Although it lived at close to the same time as the similarly-armored Mambachiton their last common ancestor was at least 10 million years earlier, and no other early dinosaur precursors with osteoderms are currently known – so this was probably a case of Lewisuchus independently re-evolving the same sort of feature.

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NixIllustration.com | Tumblr | Patreon

#science illustration #paleontology #paleoart #palaeoblr #lewisuchus #silesauridae #dinosauriformes #avemetatarsalia #archosaur #reptile #art #the early ornithischian idea is intriguing BUT it's also being pushed by the ornithoscelida gang #so that's a thing #(...i should probably also talk about the state of ornithoscelida at some point; it's been what almost seven years?) #(short version: we still dunno and early dinosaur relationships resolve in multiple equally-likely ways; More Data Is Needed)

[barghest-land]

paleo museum sketches from january :)

#barghestland #paleoart #art #artists on tumblr #i have to go there again soon i miss this place so much #also i keep forgetting i have tons of paleo art to share

[alex-fictus]

Mosasaurus!

Late Cretaceous. 83-66MYA.

They were one of the first mesozoic animals to be given a name, beating the first named dinosaur Megalosaurus by 60 years! (1764 for the first named Mosasaurus, 1824 for Megalosaurus, the first named Dinosaur)

#video #art #my art #paleontology #paleoart #science #not a dinosaur #also not a plesiosaur #mosasaurus #squamata #squamates #lizard #reptile #marine reptile

[lerildeal]

A mix media comic I made for my art history class that I’m posting here before I even turn it in lol

Watercolor, charcoal, ink, colored pencil, and sharpie

#paleoart #kinda? #I’m going with it #my art #traditional art #watercolor #comic #poetry #also kinda? #should I make a homework tag for myself? #that be kinda funny #hw

[novosev]

Still earth, lively sky ❄️🌌

#dinosaur #tyrannosaurid #dinosaur art #paleoart #yutyrannus #idk if this is a nanuq or a yuty or what! but she is cute and fluffy! her design is by Pimsri :) #Also drew this when my flight was super delayed and it was stuffy hot and awful in the gate #hence cold theme :3

[cathartic-crypt]

everyone come say hi to spring bean :D

#paleo pines #ooo new shiny watermark :3 #also this game is so cute #the little bounces and sounds the dinos make #AUEUAEAEUE <- (CRYING) #paleoblr #gallimimus #dinosaur #dinosaur art #idk what to tag this as #dino art #paleoart #paleontology #paleo pines art #crypt collection