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Dragonthunders — Harpactognathus and Caviramus

Published: 2018-01-24 23:21:19 +0000 UTC; Views: 7702; Favourites: 236; Downloads: 25
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Description In these days that I have been making several prehistoric animals for an updated version of my real-life size chart, I was curious to see from another perspective the size of the largest Pterosaurs, not by species, but by period. You see, most of the comparison charts of Pterosaurs tend to include the largest individuals and usually tend to be mostly Azhdarchids (obviously) and the occasional Pterodactyloid like Tropeognathus or Pteranodon, all in the Cretaceous. And so I did a bit of searching and I ran into the largest pre-Cretaceous Pterosaurs, the biggest flying animals of each period, at least those that are known by remnants. Although they are not huge flying creatures the size of airplanes, it is in itself a bit fascinating to think that these species at the time were the largest thing that has crossed the skies until that moment.

Above: Harpactognathus gentryii, a large Rhamphorhynchid pterosaur found in the Morrison formation, which lived in the late jurassic, is only known by a holotype formed by the front part of the skull. As its appearance is inferred from the most closest relative, the Scaphognathus, the length of the head has been calculated in around 30 centimeters, and with a possible wingspan of 2.5 meters.
Head and body based on original paper picture draws and Scaphognathus reconstructions.

Below: Caviramus schesaplanensis, is a pterosaur from the Late Triassic, discovered in the Kössen Formation, Switzerland. Its unusual appearance, such as its crest, the teeth, and its thin shape are a fascinating expression of what pterosaurs could develop in their first tens of millions of years of existence. At its point probablt this was the first great flying animal on the planet, the largest flyer of the triassic with 1.3 meters in wingspan, and a weight of approximately 1 Kg, which although it was not a giant, was quite impressive at a point of time where the largest flying animals were giant insects of around 70 cm of wingspan.
Head and body based on Mark Witton Caviramus reconstruction
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Comments: 20

buried-legacy [2018-12-30 15:20:07 +0000 UTC]

Nicely done. Keep it up

👍: 1 ⏩: 1

Dragonthunders In reply to buried-legacy [2018-12-31 00:31:11 +0000 UTC]

Thanks

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buried-legacy In reply to Dragonthunders [2018-12-31 02:32:02 +0000 UTC]

Your welcome

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9Weegee [2018-07-14 21:23:33 +0000 UTC]

Dont you think that maybe Harpactognathus could've evolved a shorter tail due to it's size?

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Dontknowwhattodraw94 [2018-01-25 16:52:23 +0000 UTC]

For some reason I wasn't aware of how predatory Harpactognathus looked like. 
Looks nice!

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Dragonthunders In reply to Dontknowwhattodraw94 [2018-01-26 17:05:20 +0000 UTC]

Thank you

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acepredator In reply to Dontknowwhattodraw94 [2018-01-25 20:07:06 +0000 UTC]

Scaphognathines in general have the robust look of a predator. They were probably quite predatory in life (eat lots of small land vertebrates)

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AntonellisofbBender [2018-01-25 02:26:06 +0000 UTC]

AWESOME

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Dragonthunders In reply to AntonellisofbBender [2018-01-26 17:05:28 +0000 UTC]

Thanks

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AntonellisofbBender In reply to Dragonthunders [2018-01-26 18:41:17 +0000 UTC]

Your welcome

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LordofGorillaCheeks [2018-01-25 01:26:24 +0000 UTC]

They both seem like fairly robust and powerful animals for their size, especially Harpactognathus. I'm wondering what they did exactly in terms of predation and ecology. They seem a little more unique than other average Eudimorphodontoids. 

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Dragonthunders In reply to LordofGorillaCheeks [2018-01-26 22:16:53 +0000 UTC]

Oh yeah.
From what I could read Scaphognathines were very much predators of small animals, which I can imagine would have had a lot of potential prey, from mammals, small teropods, ornithopods, other pterosaurs and insects, 

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acepredator In reply to LordofGorillaCheeks [2018-01-25 20:06:16 +0000 UTC]

Harpactognathus was a scaphgnathine, those are all robustly built. Probably eating things like lizards, small mammals, small dinosaurs and large arthropods, possibly supplemented by some fruit material.

Caviramus is more likely omnivorous.

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malevouvenator [2018-01-25 00:40:59 +0000 UTC]

The real fly bois!

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Dragonthunders In reply to malevouvenator [2018-01-25 00:44:15 +0000 UTC]

Yay

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Dinosaurlover83 [2018-01-24 23:34:59 +0000 UTC]

Nice!

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Dragonthunders In reply to Dinosaurlover83 [2018-01-24 23:43:57 +0000 UTC]

Thanks

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bhut [2018-01-24 23:22:23 +0000 UTC]

Very cool!

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Dragonthunders In reply to bhut [2018-01-24 23:32:50 +0000 UTC]

Thank you

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bhut In reply to Dragonthunders [2018-01-24 23:40:50 +0000 UTC]

You're welcome.

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