Branchiosaurid skin patterns

[Misha]

Hello everyone,

I have been looking to do a bit of practice drawing and I thought why don't I try to reconstruct an animal from my fossil collection, I decided Apateon pedestrian should be fairly simple so I went with that. So far I have looked over different fossils and skeletal diagrams and tried to compare them to modern amphibians. One thing from my research that has been very inconclusive though is the skin pattern and texture of the animal. One source states that they had a regular mosaic pattern of scales which is possible considering other temnospondyls but when looking into it more the only thing I could find is another branchiosaurid, Melanerpeton which was found with a pattern on its skin although here it said nothing about scales. Does anyone know where I could find out about what they really did look like, or should I just base it off of what we know about the other branchiosaurid?

[grandpa]

If you just want to practice drawing, what does it matter?  If you want to attempt what might have been real, go with what you know.  If you want to represent your drawings as a representation of what WAS real, you don't have enough info to proceed.

[doushantuo]

4 MB

some of you may like

Palaeodiversity* 2: 233–270; Stuttgart, 30.12.2009. 233
Comparative histology of sculptured dermal bones in basal
tetrapods, and the implications for the soft tissue dermis
FLORIAN WITZMANN

*Which remains,as always ,a free access publucation,BTW

NB:this comes with a high recommendation from yours truly

[oilshale]

RALF WERNEBURG:  TIMELESS DESIGN COLORED PATTERN OF SKIN IN EARLY PERMIAN BRANCHIOSAURIDS TEMNOSPONDYLI DISSOROPHOIDEA.pdf

Thomas

[Misha]

12 hours ago, grandpa said:

If you just want to practice drawing, what does it matter?  If you want to attempt what might have been real, go with what you know.  If you want to represent your drawings as a representation of what WAS real, you don't have enough info to proceed.

I just like to be as accurate as possible with these drawings, it's not only about practicing drawing but I also want to learn from these experiences about the animals themselves and how to do the necessary research.

10 hours ago, doushantuo said:

4 MB

some of you may like

Palaeodiversity* 2: 233–270; Stuttgart, 30.12.2009. 233
Comparative histology of sculptured dermal bones in basal
tetrapods, and the implications for the soft tissue dermis
FLORIAN WITZMANN

*Which remains,as always ,a free access publucation,BTW

NB:this comes with a high recommendation from yours truly

 

5 hours ago, oilshale said:

RALF WERNEBURG:  TIMELESS DESIGN COLORED PATTERN OF SKIN IN EARLY PERMIAN BRANCHIOSAURIDS TEMNOSPONDYLI DISSOROPHOIDEA.pdf

Thomas

Thank you guys! This will be a great help for my reconstruction practice.

[Misha]

It appears that we really only know that one branchiosaurid, so I have quite a bit of room for speculation

[Mark Kmiecik]

5 hours ago, Misha said:

It appears that we really only know that one branchiosaurid, so I have quite a bit of room for speculation

The color will most likely never be known, and the preserved pattern may be different from the norm and this difference the reason it was preserved. We won't know until enough specimens are found to justify any assumption we make. Also, the patterns among males and females, juveniles versus adults may vary, and also the colors even as the colors of certain individuals of the same species vary in extant life forms. Budgerigars is a good example -- white, gray, blue, green, yellow and combinations of these, yet each color is the same species.

 

So, anything within reason is possible. Except pink. Please. No pink. Don't make them look like flamingos.

[Mahnmut]

Sorry for being off topic, but I couldn´t resist.

 

this i photoshopped based on a drawing by Nobu Tamura and a Photo by Christian Mehlführer, both under creative commons licence.

 

Actually, I find the idea plausible, them being filter feeders.

Other than branchiosaurus, although those may have eaten shrimps too, may they not?

 

[Misha]

5 hours ago, Mahnmut said:

Actually, I find the idea plausible, them being filter feeders.

Other than branchiosaurus, although those may have eaten shrimps too, may they not?

I think flamingos are more of exception in terms of their coloration, and I do not think this is very likely although it is possible, flamingo coloration comes from beta-Carotene yet there are many others that consume it none of which have this pink coloration. 

Pink amphibians are especially rare, the only ones I can think of currently are caecilians and Texas blind salamanders but both of those live in environments with little light which is not so for Apateon. Axolotls can have pink coloration but this trait is artificial.

[Mahnmut]

Sorry, I didn´t mean to suggest that you should make your Apateon pink, neither to intrude.

 

The mention of Flamingos just made me think of the Pterodaustro palaeoart which I found hilarious and not totally unplausible.

Just now I think that Mark Kmiecik may have mentioned the Flamingos especially because he didn´t like the Pterodaustro as much as I did.

 

On statistical reasons I am nearly sure that at some time there existed an albino Apateon, though they would probably have fallen to predation fast.

Sorry for intruding on your thread, I am looking forward to see your drawing.

 

Best Regards,

J

 

[Misha]

19 minutes ago, Mahnmut said:

On statistical reasons I am nearly sure that at some time there existed an albino Apateon, though they would probably have fallen to predation fast.

Sorry for intruding on your thread, I am looking forward to see your drawing.

It's not a problem, you did not intrude.

I am quite interested in this idea as well although I myself don't think the pterosaur would have shared its coloration with the flamingo.