The first dinosaur of 2024.

Impression of Sidersaura marae

References: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/1…

Cryptotaxonomy Tournament: Reptiles

Note: these creatures do not actually exist. The following descriptions are facetious

Plesiosauria. This clade of ''extinct'' and ''pre-historic'' marine reptiles includes the Loch Ness Monster and Ogopogo, large long-necked monsters that live in lakes.

Sauropoda. This ''extinct'' clade of long-necked dinosaurs has a living member in the Mokele-Mbembe, a large quadrupedal herbivore with a long neck and smooth skin, found in the Congo River Basin.

Spinophorosaurus nigerensis from the Middle Jurassic (Bathonium, 167 Ma), Niger

"Jingia" dongxingensis Ren et al., 2024 (new genus and species)

(Back vertebrae of "Jingia" dongxingensis [scale bar = 10 cm], from Ren et al., 2024)

Meaning of name: Jingia = for the Jing people; dongxingensis = from Dongxing

Age: Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian?)

Where found: Dongxing Formation, Guangxi, China

How much is known: Partial skeleton of one individual including several vertebrae and limb bones.

Notes: "Jingia" was a sauropod probably closely related to Mamenchisaurus. Mamenchisaurus-like sauropods appear to have been very diverse in the Late Jurassic of East Asia. "Jingia" differs from other such sauropods mainly in the shape and proportions of its vertebrae.

Unfortunately, the genus name Jingia had already been used for a moth in 1983, so a new genus will need to be coined for this dinosaur.

Reference: Ren, X.-X., X.-R. Wang, Y.-N. Ji, Z. Guo, and Q. Ji. 2024. The first mamenchisaurid from the Upper Jurassic Dongxing Formation of Guangxi, southernmost China. Historical Biology advance online publication. doi: 10.1080/08912963.2024.2309287

Argentinosaurus huinculensis

Reference: GunnarBivens skeletal (https://www.deviantart.com/gunnarbivens)

Vector illustration, 2023

Dreadnoughtus roaming the vast lands

Brachytrachelopan mesai, probably one of the most miserable sauropods in the fossil record.

With Hatsune Miku for scale:

Dinofact #22

Although they are often confused, Giganotosaurus and Gigantosaurus are two distinct and very different genera. The more well-known of the two, Giganotosaurus, is a large theropod, one of the largest known carnivores. Gigantosaurus, however, is a dubious genus of sauropod, which consists of several seperately discovered fossils, and which is considered a nomen dubium.

Source: wikipedia [1], [2]

Happiest Valentines with Bajadasaurus pairing each other. #prismacolor #paleoart #bajadasaurus #bajadasauruspronuspinax #sauropoda #dinosauria #cartoon #valentines #art #myart #mixedmediaart #mixedmedia https://www.instagram.com/p/Cop1ddTPAVv/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

Sauropoda

Sauropods are a recognizable clade with their incredibly long necks, long tails, small head, and pillar-like legs. They were some of the largest animals to ever walk the land. They existed from the Early Jurassic to the Late Cretaceous.

Kaiyodo Retro Classic Dinotales Bottle Caps

Diplodocus for Mother’s Day: Two juvenile Diplodocus hallorum give their hungry mother a special gift: a small tree from a nearby forest where the other Diplodocus are browsing on the leaves of much larger trees.

The plesiosaur is so goddamn funny to me. It's like God or whoever procrastinated making another dinosaur before their deadline, and just said "Screw it. Sauropoda with flippers. Good enough."

The mounted Spinophorosaurus nigerensis skeleton. The original bones are on the ground, the mount is a reproduction made slightly smaller to fit into the room. Shot at the Natural History Museum in Braunschweig (Germany)

Perijasaurus lapaz Rincón et al., 2022 (new genus and species)

(Part of the type vertebra of Perijasaurus lapaz, with broken regions in orange and reconstructed regions or surrounding rock in yellow, from Rincón et al., 2022)

Meaning of name: Perijasaurus = Serranía del Perijá lizard [in Greek]; lapaz = La Paz [town near where the original fossil was discovered]

Age: Early or Middle Jurassic (Toarcian or Aalenian)

Where found: La Quinta Formation, Cesar, Colombia

How much is known: A single back vertebra.

Notes: Perijasaurus was an early sauropod, known from closer to the Equator than any other Early or Middle Jurassic sauropod. The type specimen of this dinosaur had been previously described in 1955, but was left unnamed at the time. Following a reexamination of the fossil, the authors of a new study gave it a name and reinterpreted it in light of what is now known about sauropod diversity. The only known vertebra of Perijasaurus is not as extensively hollow as those of later sauropods, suggesting that it represents an intermediate stage in the evolution of weight-saving features in sauropod vertebrae.

Reference: Rincón, A.F., D.A. Raad Pájaro, H.F. Jiménez Velandia, M.D. Ezcurra, and J.A. Wilson Mantilla. 2022. A sauropod from the Lower Jurassic La Quinta Formation (Dept. Cesar, Colombia) and the initial diversification of eusauropods at low latitudes. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology advance online publication. doi: 10.1080/02724634.2021.2077112

Brachytrachelopan

Commission for a line-art tattoo design.

Vector illustration.