The Zoology Practical Book Cover-The Back

This is the back cover of the zoology practical book. The front cover was the subject of the previous post.

At the top of the image are two dinosaurs from early Cretaceous Australia (135-107 mya, I know I made a mistake in the actual drawing). The Mesozoic fossil record in Australia is rather poor. Most of the remains exist as isolated scraps of bone and are often the preserved after travelling in a fluvial system for some time. Thus they have often been rounded and disarticulated by the actions of running water. This is true of Lightning Ridge which is a deposit that records rivers following into the sea. Hence these dinosaurs are very speculative, but hey I can dream, can't I? :-) For reference I had a look at Gregory S. Paul's Predatory Dinosaurs of the World which not only has reconstructions but good drawings of dinosaur skeletons.

Rapator ornitholestoides is known from a single metacarpel preserved in opal. It was about 9 metres long and might have looked like a lightly built Allosaurus. It's specific name, ornitholestoides, means "like Ornitholestes." Ornitholestes hermanni was described in 1903 and is still only known only from one complete skeleton found in the Bone Cabin Site of Wyoming. Ornitholestes and Rapator share an elongated posteromedial process, which is a peculiar trait suggesting that these animals could have been related. Hence, this reconstruction has been modelled on Ornitholestes. The metacarpal is not only larger than that of it's possible American relative, but is also more robust. To convey this idea I added greater depth to the head of Rapator. The nasal bones of Ornitholeste have been a source of some contention, with some people believing that they are the broken bases of a nasal crest as seen in Proceratosaurus and others thinking that the nasal bones are either displaced or the products of post-depositional deformation. For this reconstruction, Ii decided to let myself go on a flight of fancy and added a nasal horn. I have coloured it bright yellow and red because it might have been used as a sexual display . I have also given it darker skin around on the lips and around the eye because they can give better contrast to the teeth. The eyes may also look more expressive. You can see black gums on wolves in which this contrast is used to intimidated other wolves when the teeth are bared. The rest of the body is a mottled green and brown to serve as camouflage when the animals is hunting. Since no more complete remains have been recovered to date there is continued discussion as to the true lineage of this dinosaur. There are other theories suggesting that it might be a giant Alvarezsaurid and Steve Sailisbury now believes it may be related to Nqwebasaurus, a basal coelurosaur from South Africa.

Kakaru kujani is known from a single tibia preserved in opal recovered from Andamooka in South Australia. In the scientific community only a cast is available for study because the original fossil was sold by an opal dealer. The tibia is slender and resembles that of a wader bird. It is similar to Avimimus but has facets for the astragulus (ankle bone) that are unique and it could represent a completely new lineage of dinosaurs. For this reconstruction I have used Avimimus as a model and I have made the bill deep and brightly coloured as in puffins which use their deep beaks for colourful sexual displays. I put the dark ban through it to break up the contours of the beak, as in what stripes do for zebras. It might lend a bit of camouflage. On top of the head are feathers that make up a crest. These only have filaments on the tips, as in a peacock's crest.

Below is my alter-ego, Aquiline the Imperial Diallonyx with a Tasmanian Tiger (Thylacinus cynocephalus) sitting on his back. The Tasmanian Tiger has only been extinct since the 1930's and some people still believe (or want to believe) that it still roams the wilds of Tasmania. It was a remarkable case of convergent evolution and this animal took very strongly after wolves or dogs. However, it was always thought to be a solitary hunter and was the size of a German Shepard Dog. It descended from hopping ancestors and still retained the stiff back of fused vertebrae in the lower back. Note that the thylacine can see it's own reflection Aquiline's coat. The coat of the Diallonyx is has a metallic sheen to it due to silver compounds in the fur. Hence it can operate like a mirror.