#vespersaurus

[cypressure]

flocking 3/21/25—Thescelosaurus, Sauroposeidon, Vespersaurus

i have not been on here much due to print fair insanity (which went great, if you were wondering!) followed by ongoing illness (not going so great) but i am trying to get through a little backlog of posts in preparation for my website revamp. and welcome to all the new followers also :D

[ppaleoartistgallery]

#Paleostream 22/03/2025

here's today's #Paleostream sketches!!!

today we sketched Sauroposeidon, Thescelosaurus, Vespersaurus, and Knoetschkesuchus

[princefluph]

Archovember day 7! Vespersaurus paranaensis! A small Theropod from the Cretaceous! I know that its unscientific that this animal would have the ability to poof up their plumage this much, but all the images I saw of them reminded me of pigeons and I pictured them doing a little courtship dance. Whats interesting about these animals is that they walked around on one middle toe rather than all three and so had the two outer toes up in the air.

[impulseimpact]

paleostream flocking 21th of march 2025

sauroposeidon thescelosaurus vespersaurus knoetschkesuchus

[veloci-raptor]

Flocking Together

Sauroposeidon/Thescelosaurus

Vespersaurus/Knoetschkesuchus

[si-nequal-is]

Vespersaurus paranaensis

[saritapaleo]

Archovember 2024 Day 7 - Vespersaurus paranaensis

The rare noasaurids were a family of theropod dinosaurs belonging to the group Ceratosauria, and were related to the short-armed abelisaurids. One noasaur, Masiakasaurus, brought the family into the limelight recently with its appearance on Prehistoric Planet. But in Cretaceous Brazil, a different noasaur left its strange, monodactyl footprints across the sand. Vespersaurus paranaensis had two “killing claws”, on each foot, but not like a Velociraptor, or a Balaur, or even like modern Accipitriformes. Instead, it walked on its middle toe, while its 2nd toe and outer toe were raised off the ground. This may have been an adaptation to moving swiftly across the hot sand of the Botucatu Formation, a vast Cretaceous desert. Such an adaption has not been found in any other archosaur. Vespersaurus probably didn’t actually use these claws for hunting, and was likely a generalist, chasing down small, fast animals, opportunistically scavenging the kills of other predators, or hunting weak and injured animals. It may have instead used its claws in powerful defensive kicks, similar to modern cassowaries.

Other named species have yet to be found in the Botucatu Formation. Aside from Vespersaurus, other fossils include indeterminate coelurosaurs, ornithopods, lizards, tritylodontids, and mammals.

This art may be used for educational purposes, with credit, but please contact me first for permission before using my art. I would like to know where and how it is being used. If you don’t have something to add that was not already addressed in this caption, please do not repost this art. Thank you!

[thedrawinggizzard]

A young berthasaura narrowly escapes the jaws of a predatory vespersaurus. Despite appearances, these two are actually quite closely related, both being part of the clade noasauridae. These were a group of ceratosaurid theropods that were quite varied in forms, among them small hunters and beaked herbivores that lost their teeth as they grew up.

Not entirely sure whether these two lived together but I really like the contrast of how different yet also how close these two are. Also vespersaurus is one my favourite dinosaurs ever.

[joakinmar]

Vespersaurus paranaensis by NobreJuan.

[paleonativeart]

The last day of dinocember 2023 is day 15: Vespersaurus.

A another and bizarre noasauridae with a two sickle claw-like toes sticking out from its foot, while standing on a sandy dunes.

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

trick or treat :3c

Vespersaurus by Juanet

[katborg82]

Flocking 3-21-25

Sauroposeidon, Thelescosaurus, Vespersaurus, Knoetschkesuchus

[justgoji]

A pair of female Vespersaurus paranaensis cuddle and watch the sky.

[bookrat]

Vespersaurus

[regaliceratops]

Vespersaurus paranaensis, a strange ceratosaur theropod from Late Cretaceous Brazil. Only one middle toe on each foot bore most of its weight, an adaptation that aided it in its desert environment

[alphynix]

For around 50 years some very unusual dinosaur tracks have been found in ancient desert sediments in South America: strange footprints showing the impression of only a single toe, a walking style never before seen in any reptiles.

And recently a fossil of what might be the track maker has actually been found.

Named Vespersaurus paranaensis, this new species lived during the Late Cretaceous of Brazil (~90 mya) and was a member of the noasaurid family of theropods, closely related to the weird-jawed Masiakasaurus from Madagascar.

Measuring about 1.5m long (~5′), Vespersaurus was fairly lightly built with legs proportioned for running -- and its feet were absolutely unique. Although it had the standard three main toes of a theropod, it bore its weight entirely on the middle toe and held the other digits off the ground. The two raised toes on each foot also had large knife-like claws which may have been used during hunting, vaguely similar to the sickle claws on the feet of dromaeosaurs. But unlike dromaeosaurs these claws weren’t highly curved or pointed, suggesting Vespersaurus used more of a scratching and slashing technique rather than the raptors’ puncture-and-restraint strategy.

Much like ancient horses, it may have developed its single-toed stance as an adaptation for more efficient fast running, possibly to avoid larger predators or to chase down small fast-moving prey like hopping desert mammals.

The known one-toed fossil footprints are actually slightly older than the Vespersaurus fossil, and similar tracks in Argentina have been found dating back to the Late Jurassic (~150mya), so there may have been a long lineage of “one-toed” desert-dwelling noasaurids in South America that haven’t been found yet.

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