With some big names of palaeontology set to attend (and present after me) I figure it couldn't just to have some of my best palaeo art illustrating the talk. Especially as there is only a few previous pieces by other artists I could include. Otherwise my talk would be nothing but snap shots of various specimens.
So for NZ's Dinosaurs I'm thinking a herd of Hypsilophodon being chased by a...
Big generic theropod.So both are in need of work obviously, but feedback is welcome.
3 comments:
So far so good I'd say. But Hypsilophodon in NZ???
Albertonykus- Okay technically they're not "Hypsilophodon" propers, as those are Jurassic, and the critter I'm "reconstructing" is late Cretaceous.
However for lack of a better term, I go with generic names that the average lay person can understand. To me Hypsilophodon is the generic family name that gives the general idea of a small Ornithopod (based on the books of my childhood, back in the good old 80's).
These days my choice may not be the most scientific accurate name I could have choosen, but I am personally developing a real distain for taxonomy constantly making the names of dinosaurs more and more complicated. I get that figuring out family trees is important, but the naming procedures themselves are harmful to the science in my opinion as it makes Dinosaurs inaccessible to the none expert. Keeping names simple, or unique (rather then sticking a "dae" "iod" on the end of an already established name) would help none science people connect more.
More properly these guys are a Kiwi offshoot of Australia's small ornithopods. However as we have only a single femur to go off, being more precise than that is impossible at moment.
Um, Hypsilophodon is Early Cretaceous. XD But I get your point. These guys all used to be called "hypsilophodontids", until someone realized they weren't really each other's closest cousins so now we have to stick with "basal ornithopods". (I sometimes still use hypsilophodontid as a descriptive, non-accurate term for basal ornithopods, similar to your use of Hypsilophodon, however, just like how everyone still uses non-monophyletic terms like fish, prosauropod, etc.)
Post a Comment