PrehistoryByLiam

Just finished my reconstruction of one of the largest pterosaurs ever, the incredibly long-necked Arambourgiania philadelphiae from Late Cretaceous Jordan. While fossil evidence for azhdarchid pterosaurs like Arambourgiania is typically scant, based on close relatives like Quetzalcoatlus northropi a clearer picture can emerge. This was obviously a giant, with one of the most extreme head/neck to body ratios ever developed in vertebrates. While its wingspan has been estimated to be between 7-13 meters (23-43 feet long), this makes it difficult to put onto a size chart so I modeled this one off of Mark Witton and Darren Naish's estimate of Arambourgiania having a neck length of 2.65 meters (8.7 feet!!!) It may look incredibly ungainly and oddly proportioned (which it is), keep in mind that the skull is definitely lighter than it looks. As is probably expected, Arambourgiania had a comparatively weak neck and was likely restricted to preying on smaller animals. This is what makes it so interesting in my opinion, that it and its more ferocious relative Hatzegopteryx illustrate the morphological and ecological diversity present in azhdarchids (my favorite group of pterosaurs - they're hard not to like). I decided to reconstruct this species because after Hatzegopteryx I figured a size chart/comparison of the azhdarchid "trifecta" (Hatz, Arambourg and Quetzalcoatlus) would make for a nice print. 
Pterosaurs by the way are one of the hardest extinct organisms to appropriately color in my opinion- not only were they covered in pycnofibers, an integument known only from the fossil record, but their morphology and ecology means they have no close modern analogues. I did the best I could, drawing inspiration from herons, storks, spoonbills and other birds along those lines. 
If you haven't seen my reconstruction of Hatzegopteryx, check it out here: www.deviantart.com/prehistoryb…

Sources:
peerj.com/articles/2908/
markwitton-com.blogspot.com/20…
markwitton-com.blogspot.com/20…
www.pteros.com/pterosaurs/aram…

Work in progress of a new commission, which luckily enough is of my favorite dinosaur Deinocheirus! Really excited to tackle this guy again way sooner than I originally thought I would. This is obviously very early in the process, so things like the tail fan of feathers aren't rendered yet. Can't wait to finish!