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The magnificent Caviramus, an early example of an anatomically 'extreme'...
The Carnian/Norian Swiss pterosaur Caviramus schesaplanensis, one of the earliest species to take pterosaur anatomy to strange new places. Anyone else want to make puns about 'Cave-iramus' with this...
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The lives and times of flying reptiles as told by the fossil record, part 1:...
The undignified end to the life of a large (6m wingspan) azhdarchid: being squabbled over by Saurornitholestes and other local ruffians. We know a scene like this must have occurred at least once...
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Why Protoceratops almost certainly wasn't the inspiration for the griffin legend
Protoceratops, the Late Cretaceous horned dinosaur widely suggested as being the inspiration for the griffin myth. This image shows the lesser seen P. hellenikorhinus, a larger, more ornamented species...
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The lives and times of flying reptiles as told by the fossil record, part 2:...
Juvenile, subadult and a big, old adult Rhamphorhynchus muensteri forage in a Jurassic lagoon. We know more about the position of this pterosaur in Mesozoic food webs than any other thanks to its...
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Quetzalcoatlus: the media concept vs. the science
Background: Javelina Formation forest. Mid-ground: the 4.6 m wingspan, super-famous azhdarchid pterosaur Quetzalcoatlus sp. Foreground: lunch.As a consultant, the pterosaur I get asked about more than...
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The dinosaur resting pose debate: some thoughts for artists
Three Sinornithoides youngi, one standing, one sitting, one sunbathing. But would these animals really have adopted resting poses like those of modern birds, as shown here, or would they have relaxed...
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Why the giant azhdarchid Arambourgiania philadelphiae needs a fanclub
Two giant azhdarchids, Arambourgiania philadelphiae, attempt to portion a troodontid. The troodontid objects.When people talk about giant azhdarchid pterosaurs (odds are most readers of this blog don't...
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New palaeoart book, Recreating an Age of Reptiles, out now!
Finally, my long promised palaeoart book Recreating an Age of Reptiles is available from online retailers! Conceived as a short, 'how long can it take to publish a print-on-demand book where I have...
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Recreating an Age of Reptiles: the motion picture (and other promotional...
Last week I put my new palaeoart book Recreating an Age of Reptiles on sale: you can see previews and buy copies here, and check out this post for some basic details.If you'd like a more in-depth...
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And drepanosaurs might fly... wait, really?
Minor update (06/07/16): Thanks to Andrea Cau, a few additional citations and points of discussion have been made below - the thrust and arguments of the post are the same, but the context is improved....
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The 'Pteranodon complex' and dismantling our understanding of the most famous...
Pteranodon longiceps, Pteranodon sp. or something else entirely? In recent years one of our most famous and abundant pterosaurs has been carved up into multiple species, but is this overzealous...
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Trunk or no trunk, small or giant ears, long or short neck... what did the...
Giant, Oligocene rhinocerotoids Paraceratherium transouralicum engage in some early morning flirting. Because, in rhino speak, playing hard to get involves shoulder barges and head-butts.Depictions of...
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New paper: at last, a small pterosaur species from the latest Cretaceous
As the Cretaceous fossil record enters its final two stages - the Campanian and Maastrichtian - several unusual things seem to happen in the world of flying reptiles. Firstly, we see the end result of...
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A salute to the Erythrosuchidae
Two Garjainia madiba decide who gets the table scraps. The reconstructions here are modified from the life reconstruction I provided for Gower et al. (2014). I find erythrosuchids, large, big-headed...
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Exposed teeth in dinosaurs, sabre-tooths and everything else: thoughts for...
Bear-sized gorgonopsid Inostrancevia latifrons. Sabre-teeth? What sabre teeth?It is something of a trope that prehistoric animals must bare their teeth in palaeoart, even when their mouths are closed....
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The markwitton.com H. P. Lovecraft Halloween Special
The best holiday of the year is just around the corner: Halloween! It's the season to celebrate the macabre, the weird, the dark and the terrifying. It's the best excuse to watch all your favourite...
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The blog post where I ask myself “should we make Plateosaurus fluffy?”
Plateosaurus engelhardti restored as a) speculatively filamented and b) speculatively smelly (note the cloud of insects buzzing around its head). Scientists have good reason to think that...
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The popularity of dinosaurs - for better, for worse
This article is being cross-posted at the website of the London-based 2016 Popularizing Palaeontology workshop as part of a series of blog posts focusing on the discussions and themes of that event....
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New paper: when the short-necked, giant azhdarchid pterosaur Hatzegopteryx...
In an ideal world, all blog posts would start with images like this one. (Edited talk title slide I used back at SVPCA 2013 - we've been working on the project discussed below for a while now.)In the...
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Scientists: please pay more attention to palaeoart
A few years ago I wrote about how the 21st century is a terrific interval for palaeoart because of the wealth of information, discussion of palaeoart theory and diversity of talent we presently enjoy....
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