The Tyrants Gape - Helushka

“The Tyrant’s Gape - Helushka”

Tyrannosaurus rex. An acrylic painting of Helushka, the Tyrannosaurus, displaying his toothy arsenal to a rival.

I finally got around to putting together another piece showcasing the internal oral anatomy of my theropod depictions. It was definitely tricky to decide what sort of palatal and glottal anatomy to choose for dinosaurs given the slim soft tissue evidence in the fossil record and the highly derived nature of their two living relatives. I know some experts don’t agree with adding highly bird-like choanas for theropods and crocodilians have their internal nares behind the mouth (more like mammals) rather than terminating directly into the palate (like with birds and other sauropsids).

While I gave Helushka a very bird-like glottis, I gave him a slightly more varanid-like set of palatal ridges/flaps around his internal nares. The ridges in these animals are likely there for aiding the passage of air during respiration through the mouth and into the glottis by forming a seal to keep the air escaping out of the buccal region (snakes take this even further by having their glottis right in the front of the mouth).

I tried a few different techniques to depict the out of focus background and the scaley texture to Helushka’s skin.

Completed in mid August 2023.

Done using acrylics, color pencils, ink, and Photoshop 2021.