Laquintasaura venezuelae

[EmperorDinobot]

http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/281/1791/20141147.full#sec-14 There's the link to the paper.

I've been waiting to do this since 1998. Let me tell you a story:

I'm from Venezuela. I was born in Caracas. My mom's side of the family lives in the state of Táchira, where this animal was found. I was living there in 1998 when I heard reports of a "Lesothosaurus found by a buncha frenchmen somewhere between La Grita and Seboruco". My mom's family lives in San Cristóbal, Capital of the state. Back in the day we used to go traveling, looking for places where the Virgin Mary had been said to have appeared, so we ended up in this shack near La Grita to consult with this one old lady about whatever. My first impression of the ground was "I'm pretty sure there can be dino fossils found here". That was in '96. Fast forward to '98, when I first hear reports of "Lesothosaurus" being found. Ever since '98, I've been looking for contacts, reports, holotype numbers, etc, 'till this morning when I first heard of this. Coincidentally I was drawing a Lesothosaurus to return to you, my dear audience.

http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/281/1791/20141147.full.pdf+html

The paper is free, which made my life even better. I've somewhat followed Scott Hartman's skeletal for the paper, and who better to do a skeletal for the dream paper I've been dreaming of since '98?

This is THE ONLY TIME I'mma do a colored dinosaur, draped in the Venezuelan flag. Yeah I don't live there anymore (since the past 14 years), but the description of this new animal really made my day. So here I present to you: Laquintasaura venezuelae, the first described Venezuelan dinosaur, AKA "Lesothosaurus". I've read the paper and it's NOT Lesothosaurus.

Laquintasaura venezuelae

[Gwangi]

Very cool and great illustration. You made that flag pattern work. Now we need a New York dinosaur because even though it is unlikely I would really love for them to find one.

[EmperorDinobot]

Didn't they find this one boat near the WTC dig site? God I love NY. I wanna go back someday. Besides Seattle, it's one of my favorite places. Everyone is so friendly! My 1st gf might still be there.

[Dinoguy2]

Didn't they find this one boat near the WTC dig site? God I love NY. I wanna go back someday. Besides Seattle, it's one of my favorite places. Everyone is so friendly! My 1st gf might still be there.

Yeah, much of the lower part of Manhattan island is artificial, and has been extended out into the harbor using debris/garbage/scrapped ships etc. since the 1700s. So actually a decently big part of the city is built on top of old boats!

[EmperorDinobot]

That is fascinating. I wanna visit "the undercity" so bad, think of all the stuff left there! Urban Archaeology!

[Gwangi]

That is fascinating. I wanna visit "the undercity" so bad, think of all the stuff left there! Urban Archaeology!

Yeah, NY might not have much for dinosaurs but there are a lot of other interesting things to find.

[EmperorDinobot]

Pencil version.

There have been other great Laquintasaura reconstructions done out there, including a model for Dr. Sánchez from La Universidad de Zulia.

There's also this dude raising concern over cheeks and Laquintasaura's preservation. http://www.deviantart.com/art/Laquintasaura-venezuelae-PREVIEW-and-CHEEKS-473891847

I did mine midway through, a bit near the anterior maxillary margin, as far as you can see in the fossil skull, since we don't have any anterior elements.