Recent Acquisitions

[PrimevalRaptor]

Picked up the Papo Gorgosaurus (what a great little figure, I guess you can blame the 'inspiration' from WWD for this ) as well as the Mattel Postosuchus cause I love rauisuchians (still gotta pick up Safari's Prestosuchus).
Fitting enough since I finally started reading The Tyrannosaur Chronicles!

[Halichoeres]

@Halichoeres I'm sure as an archosaur not all of its digits would be clawed, on the hands just three, on the feet only four, not on the fifth atrophied toe.

? @Stolpergeist I am not an expert in archosaurs, but the primitive condition for both amniotes and diapsids is five clawed digits on the manus. I think crocodilians in particular having three claws is quite derived, based on the fact that early archosauromorphs (e.g., phytosaurs and things like Tanystropheus) have five ungual phalanges. The footprints of Protochirotherium (probably a stem-crocodile) certainly how five toes contacting the substrate and seem to show five claw impressions, and even Postosuchus has five ungual phalanges (four are quite small, but they are present). Perhaps I'm thinking of this the wrong way, but I don't think three clawed manual digits is universal for archosaurs.

[EmmaLVV]

Latest Invicta acquisitions!

Invicta Triceratops (painted version)


Invicta Lambeosaurus!

[Crackington]

Very nice Emma, well done on finding that Lambeosaurus -that's a rare beauty!

I managed to get some Marx and MPC figures off Ebay in the week.. Some are a bit battered and probably chewed on, but they were cheap and not often on sale from UK Ebay, so very pleased with them!

There are second mold (I think) Allosaurus, Ankylosaurus and Trachodon in there plus some colourful MPCs including a nice Struthiomimus:



Sorry the photo's a bit off, trying out a new phone.

[Libraraptor]

Congrats on those magnificient Invicta and Marx stuff!

[Crackington]

Thanks @Libraraptor and ? @Stolpergeist

That's an MPC Cynognathus. I'm hoping to get the Marx one some day, but it'll do for now 

[Bokisaurus]

Second batch of CollectA arrived. Beautiful figures!
More photos in my collection thread I you want o see more.
[]

[brontosauruschuck]

Nice! Are you going to review it?

[Totoro]

Wow, these are terrific!   

[Halichoeres]

@Halichoeres Avemetatarsalia and crocodilians share the same claw limit which implies their common ancestor did as well.
This would mean that this feature has been present before the split to Pseudosuchia.
Prestosuchus was at an early branch of Loricata and thus among one of the later pseudosuchians.
Looking at Chirotherium type ichnofossils I can't see a fifth claw, the fifth digit of the hindlimbs leaves no claw mark, the fourth and fifth digits of the forelimbs show no claw impressions either

According to Nesbitt 2011 Phytosaurs split before Archosauria.
While early archosauromorphs still have a higher claw number it seems to be a common feature of Archosauria to possess only a limited claw number that would only get further reduced in some clades as time progressed.
The link you provide doesn't seem to work, is it Weinbaum 2013?
There is no mention of the number of unguals that would support claws in the description of the foot and Fig. 21 shows that there is no such structure on the fifth digit.
Weinbaum also only describes one claw on the first digit of the forelimb and when you look at Fig. 14 that is also the only ungual you see there so Weinbaum 2013 does not contradict what I said in any way.

? @Stolpergeist Yes, phytosaurs and protorosaurs are outside the Archosauria proper, I included them to emphasize that you'd need to lose two claws in an awful hurry for the three-clawed condition to be a good synapomorphy of Archosauria. The Postosuchus paper was Weinbaum 2013, sorry the link didn't work for you. The text alongside Figure 14 is explicit: "Each digit is also reduced towards the distal end and terminates in a tiny, nub-like ungual with the exception of digit 1, which does have a large, recurved ungual, which perhaps Postosuchus may have used to help rip open carcasses." An ungual suggests a claw, however small, or at least that seems to be the intention of the author. Reconstructions of aetosaur mani also seem to assume at least 4 clawed digits, although, maddeningly, I can't seem to find any images of the actual ungual for digits IV or V. In this paper on Stagonolepis (https://peerj.com/articles/5595/), Drózdz writes: "In ZPAL AbIII/3349/1 the phalanx of the fourth row of the digit IV ends with an articulation surface, which indicates the presence of another phalanx or an ungual." In Figure 6, the diagrammatic reconstruction shows a claw on both IV and V, but of course it's only a diagram.

On the other side of the tree, what about Sarahsaurus? A basal sauropodomorph with a claw on manual digit IV? https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0204007

Until I started pursuing this question I wasn't aware how many early avemetatarsalians and psuedosuchians were preserved with incomplete or absent mani! In any event, I don't think it is as straightforward as inferring from the crown-group crocodiles and the bulk of Dinosauria that three clawed fingers is universal for archosaurs.

[Lanthanotus]

Nice additions there....and I see the new CollectA wave is beaching everywhere around the world....Germany is one more year in the longest line. Can't wait to get that massive Liso.

[Kapitaenosavrvs]

B @Bokisaurus Congratulations! I am really jealous about the new CollectAs. Mostly, because i have to agree with @Lanthanotus

Today, i got a Package to the Clinic from my Girlfriend, and she gifted me a T. rex Skeleton in a Box, that is aiming for Children. But The Quality and overall Pose are kind of striking to me and i was really suprised. A lot. It is about 40cm in Length. Since the Booklet, that comes with it differs alot in terms of Quality and Artworkquality, it seems like a Company got something like a License for that skeleton and just added Stuff, they think is right. But i really don't know.
I like it very much and it was a nice happy moment for me here. The Price wasn't that high, considering its Size. There are also Cheap Molds for making Ammonites or Dinosaur Teeth inside. But since the Gaps are quit ebig, i do not see this working properly with Plaster.

Most of these Skeleton Kits for Children (That i know of) are really Bad and look completely false. The rods look a bit weird, but nothing i could solve. E.g just having one Rod instead of two and have it in Metal, since the Rod in the Leg is metal, too.

[CityRaptor]

Might not be too surprising, but this was originally released in Japan by Gakken, which probably explains the higher quality. Have one of these myself. The more surprising part is that it made it here to Germany as an official release, as opposed to an import.

You need to use tape for the molds. That worked for me and it might also be in the instructions. Worked pretty well when I did mine years ago.

[Kapitaenosavrvs]

Might not be too surprising, but this was originally released in Japan by Gakken, which probably explains the higher quality. Have one of these myself. The more surprising part is that it made it here to Germany as an official release, as opposed to an import.

You need to use tape for the molds. That worked for me and it might also be in the instructions. Worked pretty well when I did mine years ago.

Ah, i must have overseen the Info about the Tape. I thought of Rubberband, but this would not work, considering the Shape of the Molds. Thank you.

I read, that the Figure/Skeleton was desined by Kazunari Araki, which left me wondering in the first place, because the Rest of the Package has this typical Cheap Children feeling. Now, this makes more sense. A Skeleton this Size and overall feeling is normally located in a completely different Pricerange. I really good deal to me.

For the one interested in it: https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B009HV99IC/ref=ox_sc_act_image_1?smid=AMHVRINVNBJLU&psc=1

[Ikessauro]

After a long search, finally the last Dilophosaurus i needed from Battat has arrived.

Thanks to @Invicta Hunter for the help in acquiring this one!

[Kotori_Sonoda]

It's been far too long since my last dinosaur haul.

[Faelrin]

@Kotori_Sonoda Those two are honestly some of Mattel's best when it comes to non film species.

[Kotori_Sonoda]

@Kotori_Sonoda Those two are honestly some of Mattel's best when it comes to non film species.

Indeed they look really cool. Now my problem is wondering how I'm gonna display the Quetz

[EmmaLVV]

Last goodies for the month.

Kaiyodo Capsule Q Museum: Dinosaur Series 8


Invicta Cetiosaurus

[paintingdinos]

I'm envious of all the people who have the CollectA Microraptor... I really like it. Next on my list, I think.

Late to the bandwagon on most of these but I saw Safari had a sale last weekend so finally decided to pick up a few that I've been wanting:



The Spino family grows ever larger:


My favorite of the bunch is easily the Deinonychus. I love everything about it, easily one of Safari's best. Its so convencing, I thought it would do better out in the "real life" dino pen vs on the shelf:

"Act cool and they wont suspect anything..."


"They have accpted me as one of their own."