Kaatedocus siberi

I'm closing the year with reconstruction of the recently described diplodocid sauropod from the Morrison Formation, Kaatedocus siberi. Except for the data from the beautifully preserved skull and neck, this saurpod is reconstructed after its close relatives. Being close to the base of the clade Diplodocine, and therefore close relative of Apatosaurus, I made the body's proportions a mash-up of those of Diplodocus,Barosaurus and Apatosaurus. The dewlaps are speculative, same with the keratinous spikes in the dorsal part of the torso. The latter are based on fossil evidence from Diplodocus.

I consider this my most detailed drawing to date. There are literally hundreds of thousands, if not even million dots creating the image you see, and it's all hand made. It took me about 15 hours to finish this artwork.

Reference: Tschopp, E., O. Mateus. 2012. The skull and neck of a new flagellicaudatan sauropod from the Morrison Formation and its implication for the evolution and ontogeny of diplodocid dinosaurs.- Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, 1-36.

David Bonadonna's illustration was not used as reference in any form.

Skeletal reconstructions of Diplodocus,Barosaurus and Apatosaurus by Scott Hartman were used as references for the reconstruction of the body of Kaatedocus.

Medium: Ink (+ digital editing on Photoshop).
Done: 2012.