The Tapejarids: Fanciest Hats in the Cretaceous

I’ve got a fascination right now with the pterosaur family known as Tapejaridae.

Thanks to my Patreon backers for this post!

The Tapejaridae were a highly advanced group of Arzhdarchid pterosaurs, notable for their enormous head crests and their odd, low-wing flight posture. Right now, I’m really into their weird terrestrial stance, too, though it was shared by lots of other pterosaurs: when standing, their femurs were almost parallel with the ground. Their wrists turned downward, and all but one metatarsal bone then went all the way to the ground, where three of their four fingers splayed out flat, to be used as feet (and probably grooming and grabbing stuff, too). The pinky finger then stretched back all the way over and behind the creature’s head.

Tapejara Wellnhoferei. This is a copy of Kellner's reconstruction.
Tapejara Wellnhoferei. This is a copy of Kellner’s reconstruction.

They’re creatures that remind us that all evolution is a side effect.

My measurements wind up with this wide, flat ribcage, and I'm pretty sure it's wrong.
My measurements wind up with this wide, flat ribcage, and I’m pretty sure it’s wrong.

Right now I’m working with the whole family with the intent on settling on an individual that I want to reconstruct, probably as a sculpture. There’s stuff that I don’t yet understand, like the shape of the ribcage that allows them their low-wing stance and their orthogonally-weight-bearing wrists, that I can only come to understand through sketching and studying.

A close relative, the Caiuahara Dobruskii. That crest, which we know was colored, is hugely inspirational.
A close relative, the Caiuahara Dobruskii. That crest, which we know was colored, is hugely inspirational.

This post is a couple of hours of drawing. After a few more sketches, I’ll start working on an armature from which I’ll be able to make a sculpture!

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