Only time right now for one of those brief Dave Hone-inspired Tet Zoo picture of the day posts (or TZPOTDPs, yeah), and what with all the azhdarchoid news lately (Lü et al. 2008, Witton & Naish 2008) it's only fitting that we have more pterosaurs. Here's a photo I took back in the days of Tet Zoo ver 1 (June 2006): it shows what we might call The Birthplace of Pterosaurs, or God's Workshop or, more prosaically, downstairs at the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Portsmouth...
You'll note the tupuxuarid model that you might previously have seen in its blue phase, and the Pteranodon model that previously graced the halls of the Natural History Museum (London). And a yellow fork-lift. Ha, more evidence that pterosaurs were heavier than previously thought.
Refs - -
Lü, J., Unwin, D. M., Xu, L. & Zhang, X. 2008. A new azhdarchoid pterosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of China and its implications for pterosaur phylogeny and evolution. Naturwissenschaften [Epub ahead of print]
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Hi to everyone,
Just a quick note to let you and your readers know I'm having a go at this blogging lark and have set up my own at http://dracovenator.blogspot.com
There isn't much on it yet but one of my initial posts is about pterosaurs - so this is a vaguely relevant comment.
cheers
...and if you like this picture, you can find a bonanza of similar images here. Note the youthful, optomistic expressions of the then Mr Naish and my first-year PhD self.
Shortly after, the bitterness set in.
lol Ive spent a few hour in the pterosaur factory helping dave - then later had the satisfaction of seeing the monster 'skeleton' hanging in a museum in Germany :)
Mark Witton commented: ".and if you like this picture, you can find a bonanza of similar images here. Note the youthful, optomistic expressions of the then Mr Naish and my first-year PhD self. "
Oh, those are neat images! I only recently started using
blue foam as a sculpting material, and have attempted
nothing grander than a seven-inch figure of Mothman, but
its wonderful to see work like this. Is the skinning
fiberglass, epoxy putty, or what?
This pterosaur has an abstract, minimalist look to it. Nice, but I prefer the looming, cavernous, gothic sensibility of a good T. Rex or Apatosaurus skeleton.
I didn't realize that Tupuxara (or however you spell it) was that big. I remember the "blue phase," and I kind of liked the bones colored that way, actually! I like the long-dead Pteranodon in the background. :-)
Oh, and of course, the Lu et al. paper is secured, so if anybody has access, could they send it my way? Thanks ahead of time...
Tupuxuara. Pronounced too-poo-shwah-RAH.
Who says? We all say 'tup-ucks-waa-rah' ('we' = everyone I know in pterosaur research). Huh, you crazy Europeans and your non-Philistine approach to pronunciation :)
How much does that Tupuxuara model weigh? Add a couple of servo motors and some fishing line and that might be a good Halloween project.
If it's a Chinese name - a reasonable assumption based on the critter's Chinese origin and the names of three of its discoverers - technically you're right. IIRC, "X" in Chinese corresponds to the old (Wade-Giles) "HS." But when we barbaric Amurricans see an "X," we say "KS" (or occasionally "Z," "GZ," "KSH," or "GZH" - we can't seem to make up our minds).
Yes, we are a bunch of Philistines. We pronounce Mayan "X" (also "SH") wrong too, not to mention 99.9% of the English language, if you ask anyone outside North America. But we rule the known universe. We PWNZ0RZ everybody. So sue us.
Meow, meow, meow, meow....... =^.^=
Tupuxuara was actually found in Brazil and it's discovers weren't Chinese. According to Wellnhofer's Pterosaur book, it was named for a spirit of a local Brazilian tribe.
As to pronunciation, Tupuxuara can just count itself lucky Englishmen like Darren don't pronounce it "chumley". :-)
X stands for a "sh" sound in Portuguese (and in aboriginal American languages whose orthographies are based on Portuguese).
Craig,
"Is the skinning fiberglass, epoxy putty, or what?"
Nothing that fancy: just epoxy resin smeared all over the 'bones' (latex gloves...mmm), allowed to set and then painted with acrylics. We've done much nicer paint jobs than this, actually: our Tupuxuara was made along with an Ingridia (opps: 'Tapejara') navigans and full size monster azhdarchid. As such, we didn't get as much time to paint them up as we might've liked. It's amazing how much more 'realistic' they look after a quick paint-wash with a sponge: it really adds depth and texture. Hmm: this is getting rather arty. Best go before I start waving my hands about. Well, more than I am already.
Mark
No, no, the new paper is about Shenzhoupterus. Tupuxuara is from Brazil and was described long ago.
I wouldn't be. Through some coincidence, the name is pronounceable if interpreted as Pinyin, but in that case the third u would be pronounced like in French.
Yes.
'Innit got skinny legs!? Paw lickle fing looks arf-starvd. It's a shame wot them sine-tists get away wiv feedin their anim'ls on, it reely is. No wunda they orl wen exstinked.'
Seriously, pterosaur skulls have just too many straight lines and planar surfaces to be natural. They were obviously faked by aliens... maybe, as school craft projects of palaeobiomanipulative awesomemetabeings.
Foam sure is great though!