#science illustration

[alphynix]

Wukongopterus lii was a pterosaur that lived during the mid-to-late Jurassic, about 164 million years ago, in what is now northeastern China. It was fairly small, with a wingspan of around 70cm (~2'4"), and showed a mixture of anatomical features in-between the long-tailed short-headed 'rhamphorhynchoids' and the short-tailed long-headed pterodactyloids.

Its long jaws were lined with tiny pointed conical teeth, suggesting it was adapted for primarily feeding on insects. It also had a very slight overbite, with the first two pairs of teeth in its upper jaw protruding almost vertically over the end of its lower jaw.

As a fully mature adult it would have had a low bony crest on its head that probably supported a larger keratinous structure – similar to other known wukongopterids – although the exact size and shape is unknown since the one confirmed specimen of Wukongopterus is missing that particular part of its skull. Another fossil nicknamed "Ian" may represent a second individual of this species, showing a different crest arrangement further forward on its snout, so I've made two different versions of today's image to reflect that possibility.

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NixIllustration.com | Tumblr | Patreon

References:

Cheng, Xin, et al. "New information on the Wukongopteridae (Pterosauria) revealed by a new specimen from the Jurassic of China." PeerJ 4 (2016): e2177. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.2177/supp-1

Garland, Nick. “Ian the Wukongopterid.” Pteros, https://www.pteros.com/pterosaurs/ian-the-wukongopterid.html

Wang, Xiaolin, et al. "An unusual long-tailed pterosaur with elongated neck from western Liaoning of China." Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências 81 (2009): 793-812. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0001-37652009000400016

Wikipedia contributors. “Wukongopterus.” Wikipedia, 8 Dec. 2023, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wukongopterus

XuanYu Zhou 周炫宇. Anatomy, Systematics and Paleopathology of Pterosaurs: insights based on new specimens from China. 2023. Hokkaido University, PhD thesis. https://doi.org/10.14943/doctoral.k1560

[rebeccarhelm]

The lost jellyfish art of Ilona Richter, from Anita Brinckmann-Voss's 1970 book on jellyfish of the Mediterranean Sea...

[nemfrog]

Various scaled reptiles. The life of vertebrates. 1962.

Internet Archive

[typhlonectes]

I’m sorry, but some of y’all really need to see this…

[kiabugboy]

some illustrations about Meganeura and how much we know about its anatomy based on fossil fragments and close relatives

links

[asparklethatisblue]

Bat and human arm bones~

I figured it’d be something to help a child visualise the similarities

[natureintheory]

NEW PRINT!

A fantastical, retro-futuristic laboratory for black hole research. Originally created for The Institute for Advanced Study – The Institute Letter.

The graphics on the small screens represent real black hole characteristics: Kerr black holes, donut-shaped accretion disks, gravitational effects, binary systems & more.

Credit: Olena Shmahalo for The Institute for Advanced Study

[dirtmossart]

Sedimentologist, Natacha Fabregas, using a microscope to check grain size

[comixqueen]

Repostober 7: He stretch his leggy out real far! Anchiornis from 2018, a piece from grad school.

[mannlibrary]

“Teeth of Wolf. Natural size.” British animals extinct within historic times: with some account of British wild white cattle. James Edmund Harting. 1880. 

[alphynix]

The mancallines were a lineage of flightless semi-aquatic birds closely related to auks. Known from the Pacific coasts of what are now California and Mexico, between about 7.5 and 0.5 million years ago, they convergently evolved a close resemblance and similar lifestyle to both the recently-extinct North Atlantic great auk and the southern penguins.

Miomancalla howardi here lived in offshore waters around southern California during the late Miocene (~7-5 million years ago). The largest of the mancallines, it just slightly beat out the great auk in size – standing around 90cm tall (~3') and weighing an estimated 5kg (11lbs).

Like great auks and penguins it would have been a specialized wing-propelled diver, swimming using "underwater flight" to feed on small bait fish. It probably spent much of its life out at sea, probably only returning to land to molt and breed.

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NixIllustration.com | Tumblr | Patreon

[jadafitch]

Common Yellowthroat & Leatherleaf 

[nemfrog]

Fossils of fish fins, showing their evolution. La terre avant le déluge. 1874.

Internet Archive

[typhlonectes]

from Science diagrams that look like shitposts.

[kiabugboy]

Old illustration from 2018 Arthropleura and friends running away from a carboniferous forest fire

[aneacc]

It’s Cactus garden time for the #juneinbloom2022

This one is quite personal because it’s a bit representative of the region where I live in, La palma, a small heart shaped island from the Canary Islands. Its what we call a”tunera” a prickly pear cactus in bloom and with some fruits (yummy), and an endemic butterfly called Vanessa vulcania or the Canary red admiral.