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Description
After a dead 2.5-meter long Ichthyosaurus communis washes ashore 195 million years ago during the early Jurassic period of what is now the Blue Lias Formation of Dorset, UK, the corpse of the fish-like marine reptile starts attracting scavengers from the forests further inland to come onto the coast. First to arrive are a flock of pterosaurs called Dimorphodon macronyx, a more basal species of pterosaur. While they are able to fly, they aren't really good at it and can only maintain flight for short distances, and generally hop on the ground and climb up small trees to catch small prey. These opportunists won't turn down a beached ichthyosaur though, and soon walk onto the sand to get some of that carrion. They are soon interrupted by the bigger carnivores of the area when a pair of 3.5-meter carnivorous dinosaurs known as Sarcosaurus woodi also emerge from the forest, attracted by the smell of meat. Feeling threatened by the presence of a larger predator, some of the Dimorphodon are pressured into taking flight to flee, something that they tend to do only when faced with imminent danger.

A second drawing for Prehistoric Flyers Week (mobile.twitter.com/EDGEinthewi… ). Now getting on to the animal most commonly thought of when thinking of prehistoric flying animals, the pterosaurs. Dimorphodon is a rather basal species of pterosaur that grew a meter long and had a 1.5-meter wingspan. While it is one of the better-known basal pterosaurs, having been described way back in 1829 and being well-studied since as well as getting various media appearances, the lifestyle for this creature now believed to be accurate doesn't seem to be shown much. In the past, all pterosaurs were thought to be seabird analogies in terms of lifestyle, flying over the ocean in search of fish, and with this mindset Dimorphodon was also believed to be a fish-hunter for years. Due to its large beak similar to that of a puffin, it has also been specifically deemed a "Jurassic puffin", and there was also some paleoart meme a few years back where everyone was drawing Dimorphodon with the colors of a puffin. However, the evidence suggests this pterosaur was no seabird-esque creature. The relatively short wings and robust body of this animal made it a poor flyer only capable of occasionally flying short distances, not suited to long-distance flights over the ocean, so the flight abilities of a Dimorphodon were closer to a wild turkey than a seabird. The limbs were also very much capable of running and hopping, suggesting it spent a lot of time on the ground. The wearing on the teeth also suggests a diet of vertebrates rather than fish or insects. In conclusion, Dimorphodon probably lived mainly on the floor of forests, hopping and walking around while snapping up reptiles, mammals and occasionally scavenging flesh from carcasses. The Blue Lias Formation it was found in was formed in the sea so this pterosaur probably lived in coastal forests, perhaps occasionally beachcombing for dead critters that washed ashore. The animal could fly, but would rarely do so and only when under pressure (perhaps from a predator). Clearly, puffins (and seabirds in general) are a poor analogy for this creature, and I think a closer analogy would be the caracara, a bird of prey that hunts mostly small creatures and scavengers carcasses on the ground, and not flying very frequently, so I based the colors of my Dimorphodon on a crested caracara.

While the Blue Lias Formation mostly yields marine fossil fauna, every once in a while a terrestrial animal is found. Other than Dimorphodon, there are also the fragmentary remains of a 3.5-meter long predatory theropod dinosaur. Named Sarcosaurus in 1921 (and not to be confused with Sarcosuchus), the fragmentary nature of the fossils has made classification of this animal among the theropod family tree difficult. Originally it was thought to be a megalosaur (but then again everything was back then), but later it was believed to be a coelophysoid or ceratosaur (well at the time coelophysoids were thought to belong in Ceratosauria). The most recent analysis in 2018 by Andrea Cau finds Sarcosaurus to be a dilophosaurid, or at least closely related to Dilophosaurus, and that's what I'm going with in this drawing. The skull is not known so whether it did indeed have parallel twin crests on the head like Dilophosaurus is up to speculation, but since such a feature seems quite widespread among early Jurassic theropods I don't think it's too much a stretch (Zupaysaurus, Sinosaurus and "Syntarsus" had them too, no the last one is not the same as Coelophysis or Megapnosaurus).

Oh and Ichthyosaurus is there and dead I suppose. All you need to know is that it is a marine reptile and basically a dolphin analogy.

Description
After a dead 2.5-meter long Ichthyosaurus communis washes ashore 195 million years ago during the early Jurassic period of what is now the Blue Lias Formation of Dorset, UK, the corpse of the fish-like marine reptile starts attracting scavengers from the forests further inland to come onto the coast. First to arrive are a flock of pterosaurs called Dimorphodon macronyx, a more basal species of pterosaur. While they are able to fly, they aren't really good at it and can only maintain flight for short distances, and generally hop on the ground and climb up small trees to catch small prey. These opportunists won't turn down a beached ichthyosaur though, and soon walk onto the sand to get some of that carrion. They are soon interrupted by the bigger carnivores of the area when a pair of 3.5-meter carnivorous dinosaurs known as Sarcosaurus woodi also emerge from the forest, attracted by the smell of meat. Feeling threatened by the presence of a larger predator, some of the Dimorphodon are pressured into taking flight to flee, something that they tend to do only when faced with imminent danger.

A second drawing for Prehistoric Flyers Week (mobile.twitter.com/EDGEinthewi… ). Now getting on to the animal most commonly thought of when thinking of prehistoric flying animals, the pterosaurs. Dimorphodon is a rather basal species of pterosaur that grew a meter long and had a 1.5-meter wingspan. While it is one of the better-known basal pterosaurs, having been described way back in 1829 and being well-studied since as well as getting various media appearances, the lifestyle for this creature now believed to be accurate doesn't seem to be shown much. In the past, all pterosaurs were thought to be seabird analogies in terms of lifestyle, flying over the ocean in search of fish, and with this mindset Dimorphodon was also believed to be a fish-hunter for years. Due to its large beak similar to that of a puffin, it has also been specifically deemed a "Jurassic puffin", and there was also some paleoart meme a few years back where everyone was drawing Dimorphodon with the colors of a puffin. However, the evidence suggests this pterosaur was no seabird-esque creature. The relatively short wings and robust body of this animal made it a poor flyer only capable of occasionally flying short distances, not suited to long-distance flights over the ocean, so the flight abilities of a Dimorphodon were closer to a wild turkey than a seabird. The limbs were also very much capable of running and hopping, suggesting it spent a lot of time on the ground. The wearing on the teeth also suggests a diet of vertebrates rather than fish or insects. In conclusion, Dimorphodon probably lived mainly on the floor of forests, hopping and walking around while snapping up reptiles, mammals and occasionally scavenging flesh from carcasses. The Blue Lias Formation it was found in was formed in the sea so this pterosaur probably lived in coastal forests, perhaps occasionally beachcombing for dead critters that washed ashore. The animal could fly, but would rarely do so and only when under pressure (perhaps from a predator). Clearly, puffins (and seabirds in general) are a poor analogy for this creature, and I think a closer analogy would be the caracara, a bird of prey that hunts mostly small creatures and scavengers carcasses on the ground, and not flying very frequently, so I based the colors of my Dimorphodon on a crested caracara.

While the Blue Lias Formation mostly yields marine fossil fauna, every once in a while a terrestrial animal is found. Other than Dimorphodon, there are also the fragmentary remains of a 3.5-meter long predatory theropod dinosaur. Named Sarcosaurus in 1921 (and not to be confused with Sarcosuchus), the fragmentary nature of the fossils has made classification of this animal among the theropod family tree difficult. Originally it was thought to be a megalosaur (but then again everything was back then), but later it was believed to be a coelophysoid or ceratosaur (well at the time coelophysoids were thought to belong in Ceratosauria). The most recent analysis in 2018 by Andrea Cau finds Sarcosaurus to be a dilophosaurid, or at least closely related to Dilophosaurus, and that's what I'm going with in this drawing. The skull is not known so whether it did indeed have parallel twin crests on the head like Dilophosaurus is up to speculation, but since such a feature seems quite widespread among early Jurassic theropods I don't think it's too much a stretch (Zupaysaurus, Sinosaurus and "Syntarsus" had them too, no the last one is not the same as Coelophysis or Megapnosaurus).

Oh and Ichthyosaurus is there and dead I suppose. All you need to know is that it is a marine reptile and basically a dolphin analogy.