Scientific Illustration

dbhe:

feather ———draw with colored pencil

perpetualartistsblock:

Anonymous request: a diagram of the deinonychosaur wing.

Since there’s already diagrams out there, I decided to make mine animated just to make it a bit different. It’s supposed to be generalized, hence why the skeletal anatomy is a bit wonky.

(via prehistoric-birds)

kororaa:

A family tree of Saurischian dinosaurs, showing lineages within this group with direct evidence for feathers. From Zelenitsky et al., 2012.

Yay Ornithomimus!

(via prehistoric-birds)

dendroica:

Another week, another feathery dinosaur. Since the discovery of the fluffy Sinosauropteryx in 1996, paleontologists have discovered direct evidence of fuzz, feather-like bristles and complex plumage on over two dozen dinosaur genera. I love it, and I’m especially excited about a discovery announced today. In the latest issue of Science, University of Calgary paleontologist Darla Zelenitsky adds another enfluffled species to the dinosaurian ranks. Even better, the specimens raise hopes that many more dinosaurs might be preserved with their feathery coats intact….

Even though paleontologists expected feathery Ornithomimus, the discovery was still a surprise. “I was in disbelief,” Zelenitsky said. “They’re the first feathered dinosaurs from the Americas, and the first ornithomimosaurs with feathers, as well. It was shocking to say the least.” But there’s more to the find than simply adding another species of fluffy dinosaurs to the list. The fact that the adult and juvenile animals had different kinds of plumage adds new evidence that coelurosaurs changed their fluffy coats as they aged. “The one juvenile was completely covered in filamentous type feathers,” Zelenitsky said. What the adults looked like comes from the two other specimens. One adult skeleton, lacking forearms, preserves fuzzy feathers, and “the second adult had markings on the forearm.” Together, the specimens indicate that adult Ornithomimus were mostly covered in fuzz but developed more complex arm feathers by adulthood. Sex is probably behind the plumage change. “We infer that because these wing feathers are not showing up until later in life, they were used for reproductive purposes,” Zelenitsky said. Perhaps adult Ornithomimus used flashy arm feathers to strut their stuff in front of potential mates.

(via Feathery Ostrich Mimics Enfluffle the Dinosaur Family Tree | Dinosaur Tracking)

theshinyboogie:

Birds, a Golden Nature Guide (1956)

(via tatar)

elranchonotsogrande:

Feathers by Thomas Beswick.

Histoire naturelle des oiseaux de paradis et des rolliers by BioDivLibrary on Flickr.

Paris :Chez Denné le jeune … [et] chez Perlet …,1806..
biodiversitylibrary.org/page/40634970

prehistoric-birds:

Guide to restoring folded dinosaur wings by ~Smnt2000:

As a geek and an amateur illustrator of dinosaurs, among the mostr frustrating and most difficult thing to draw in the right way are the wings of Aviremigians (i.e. the clade that includes Yixianosaurus, Oviraptorosaurs and Paraves). Expecially when they’re folded. Rarely you can see good reconstructions in this regard. The most common errors are the orientation of the feathers (generally in a very chaotic way) and that of the wrist. The latter in particular is the most relevant. The wings of most species more primitive than Aves are different, although at first strikingly similar. How to get them right then? On my blog, I give some useful tips to know how to restore them properly, but in an amatorial way.

1. Bare naked.
2. Arm feathers.
3. Hand feathers.
4. Final result

I hope this will be helpful to you all.

Read the full post here: [link]

EDIT: corrected some terminology and added thoughts on scapulars.

References: Scott Hartman, The asymmetry of the carpal joint and the evolution of wing folding in maniraptoran theropod dinosaurs, Animals Real and Imagined by Terryl Whitlatch

Ps: Sorry for the colours’ quality. Bad scanner

prehistoric-birds:

Feather Evolution by *EWilloughby:

This is a sample of a diagram on feather evolution I made for the creation/evolution book I’m working on with ~Agahnim, ~keesey and others. The “stages” represented here are highly simplified from reality (the “interlocking” and “non-interlocking” barbule stages are basically combined into one, since it’s not really possible to tell them apart in fossils) due to making it as easy to understand as possible to creationists.

The caption, written by Agahnim:

Five stages in the evolution of feathers, based on an analysis of feather evolution in a 1999 paper by Richard Prum. Each of these stages in feather evolution has been found on dinosaur fossils except for stage 3, which is known from cretaceous amber.

Stage 1 - Simple fibers: Hollow unbranched fibers, with no barbs or barbules. Found on Sciurumimus albersdoerferi. 

Stage 2 - Bundles of fibers: Groups of unbranched fibers, each attaching to a central point. Found on Sinosauropteryx prima.

Stage 3 - Unbranched barbs: Rows of unbranched barbs attached to a central shaft. Found preserved in amber alongside troodontid teeth.

Stage 4 - Barbs and barbules: Rows of barbs attached to a central shaft, which branch further into barbules. Found on Protarchaeopteryx robusta.

Stage 5 - Fully-developed flight feathers: Barbs and interlocking barbules; asymmetrical shape. Found on Microraptor gui.