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Macrophyseter

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After stuffing my face into tons of scientific articles on Late Cretaceous Lamniformes, I decided that I'd want to draw some sharks. Here's a drawing of the two infamous sharks of the Niobrara Formation Cretoxyrhina mantelli and Squalicorax falcatus as partners-in-crime.

I've made the Cretoxyrhina ≈6-7 meters and the Squalicorax ≈2 meters. As 2 meters would be the same size as a very tall 6'6" human, you could imagine the Squalicorax as the tallest ordinary human and see how much bigger Cretoxyrhina is. 

I've always felt like Squalicorax would commonly accompany predators like Cretoxyrhina to "help" strip bare the latter's kill (Crow sharks are indeed inferred by scientists as opportunistic feeders or scavengers), almost as if Ginsus had them as little cronies. Also, the common name Crow Shark sounds somewhat similar to crony. Now what if we started a new nickname for Squalicorax as a crony? That would be hilarious and maybe realistic.

 

 

5ba822130292d_CretoxyrhinaandSqualicorax.thumb.png.0605d58ca48b89a1d3bcde0fdbe23f65.png

 

EXTRAS

 

 


 

Alternative drawing where Squalicorax has countershading. The final picture omitted countershading from Squalicorax in order to easier differentiate from Cretoxyrhina.

5ba826cd58f8a_ginsuandcronyextra1.thumb.png.6c10b37041cc37231e15f62ca164c723.png

 

 

Alternative drawing where neither sharks have any countershading

5ba82718911ff_ginsuandcronyextra2.thumb.png.59b1d4baa05419d1768705faea0434cf.png

 

 

Pre-trace WIP. The Squalicorax snout was at first more Isurus-like sharp, but I didn't realize that the former actually is supposed to have a blunter snout like Cretoxyrhina until I already finished the drawing.

5ba82742404fa_ginsuandcronyextra3.thumb.png.ed63802d15a17d6ebc1e324c5c7be276.png

 

 

How all of my paleoart begins. No refs, no accuracy, just scribble the layout.

5ba827b22b20d_ginsuandcronyextra4.thumb.png.c7bcb195d0e0bb1c01b765d7bbbff678.png

 
 

 

  • I found this Informative 1

If you're a fossil nut from Palos Verdes, San Pedro, Redondo Beach, or Torrance, feel free to shoot me a PM!

 

 

Mosasaurus_hoffmannii_skull_schematic.png

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9 minutes ago, Macrophyseter said:

(Crow sharks are indeed commonly scavengers),

:headscratch: How did You determine this?

 

10 minutes ago, Macrophyseter said:

As 2 meters would be the same size as an abnormally tall 6'6" human,

First time I have been called "abnormally tall".

Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys."

Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough."

 

My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection

My favorite thread on TFF.

 

 

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7 minutes ago, ynot said:

:headscratch: How did You determine this?

Maybe "commonly scavenger" is a stretch, but many relevant scientific articles make inferences that Squalicorax probably scavenged a lot and more opportunistic than hunter, pointing out such possible evidence in Squalicorax scavenge marks in plenty of large fossils as well as some analysis on the cranium. I'll change it to "opportunistic feeder/scavenger"

 

7 minutes ago, ynot said:

First time I have been called "abnormally tall".

Just found out that 6'6" people are more common than I thought. Gotta correct that :P

If you're a fossil nut from Palos Verdes, San Pedro, Redondo Beach, or Torrance, feel free to shoot me a PM!

 

 

Mosasaurus_hoffmannii_skull_schematic.png

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3 hours ago, Macrophyseter said:

Just found out that 6'6" people are more common than I thought. Gotta correct that :P

Its the growth hormones in the milk.

We now have a generation of Watusi kids.

 

 

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6’6” is still considerably taller than the average male and pretty tall.

 

Cool drawings. You know these scientific sort are big on accuracy.

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  • 4 months later...

I've been getting some feedback from other peers, some who have recommended me to color the drawing. Here's a random WIP if you're interested, feel free to suggest any changes.

 

image.thumb.png.46ee122000f6072a54ac2cb8c0713146.png

  • I found this Informative 1

If you're a fossil nut from Palos Verdes, San Pedro, Redondo Beach, or Torrance, feel free to shoot me a PM!

 

 

Mosasaurus_hoffmannii_skull_schematic.png

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I think drawings are really good. Nice job. Opportunistic feeder that engaged in scavenging is how I present crow sharks to the kiddos. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Another WIP

 

image.thumb.png.2bc1b18e7e5ffce5788a38b15870325d.png

If you're a fossil nut from Palos Verdes, San Pedro, Redondo Beach, or Torrance, feel free to shoot me a PM!

 

 

Mosasaurus_hoffmannii_skull_schematic.png

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Ahoi.

Coming along nicely. Maybe a little less random distribution to the scrach marks? I´d imagine some of them being close and parallel, if they are supposed to come from other sharks.

Otherwise great!

 

Regards,

J

Try to learn something about everything and everything about something

Thomas Henry Huxley

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi Macro - as a bit of a shark nut - and because you ask for pointers I have a few suggestions for you..

 

- the gill slits would probably be much closer to the pectoral fin. Giving more room for jaw muscles.Probably they would also be taller.

 

- the pectoral and to a lesser extent the dorsal fins would be a bit bigger - pectoral fins providing lift for the weight of the powerful head.

 

- I believe the eyes of the ginsu sharks were quite large so I think you could increase this a little?.

 

if you check out some images of “great whites” and “big-eye” thresher sharks you will hopefully see what I’m trying to describe with my points.

 

anyway thanks again for sharing your work with us - I very much like the style of it :dinothumb::dinothumb::dinothumb:

 

 

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