Dinosaurs, Pterosaurs, Marine Reptiles & etc. from Mesozoic Era Antarctica

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There are over 1,100 drawings on this site. . .

all drawn by Robin Lyman, 

a retired/disabled former Science Teacher.

Today there are three new drawings of animals from the Mesozoic Era.  

All these animals lived on or near what is now Antarctica.

Of course, during the first part of the Mesozoic Era the 

continents were at least partially fused together.  

 Sauropodomorphs from the Southern Hemisphere

This post and these drawings were inspired by a visit we made to the University of Utah's Natural History Museum, Utah.  They have an amazing exhibit of Antarctic dinosaurs and Pterosaurs at the museum right now. There is even a Marine Reptile and an early mammal.  I want to point out that the animals found in Mesozoic Era Anatarctica were from two of the periods of the Mesozoic Era  There are actually three periods in the Mesozoic Era.  They are:  First the Triassic Period, or oldest period of the Mesozoic Era.  Next is the well known Jurassic Period.  The last period of the Mesozoic is the Cretaceous Period.  The animals in these drawings today are all from either the Early Jurassic Period... or the Late Cretaceous Period.  

This first drawing is of the relatively small Sauropodomorphs that were found in Antarctica.  Paleontologists have found 3 different Sauropodmorphs in Antarctica. The Pterosaur is another animal that was found there.  This small Pterosaur is a type of Pterosaur similar to Dimorphodon.   The Sauropodomorphs were the ancestors of the huge Sauropods that would come later.  Sauropodomorphs are also called Prosauropods.  Most of these animals have not been given a Genus and species name yet. But they all were found in or around Antarctica.  

Now, I should point out that ONE of the three Sauropodmorphs was named Glacialisaurus. Glacialisaurus had feet that were more evolved that some prosauruopos like Plateosaurus.  In fact, the feet of Glacialisaurs looked more like the feet of the later Sauropods that grew to gigantic size.  Glacialisaurus grew to be up to 13,000 lbs. and up to 25 feet long.  In metrics that is about 5700 kg and 7.6 meters.  Now, if you look carefully at the above drawing, and you think about size and perspective... you will notice that the front two Sauropodomorphs must be the 9 or so feet long unamed ones.  The one in the distance, near the edge of the forest, must be 25 feet long Glacialisaurus. 

Tritylodont was an early mammla or peerhaps proto-mammal or mamml-like reptile.  It was about the size of a modern beaver and it had big incisors like a beaver.  Tritylodont was living among the Sauropodomorphs of the Early Jurassic of Antarctica.  At the time the climate was MUCH warmer and much of Antarctica was forestland.  In the above drawing the Tritylodont is on the right side of the drawing and close to the foreground. 

Antarctica's Huge Pterosaur

There was a big fire in a museum in Brazil's National Museum.  The fire destroyed a lot of valuable fossils and other items of cultural significance.  But a bone or two was found in the ashes.  They were a few bones of a big Pterosaur that had been excavated from Vega Island off the coast of Antarctica.  So, this animal has not yet been named.  It is thought to have had a wingspan of around 16 feet or 4.9 meters.  That would make it, when on the ground, between 8 and 10 feet tall.  That is 2.5 meters to about 3 meters tall.  This Pterosaur is thought to be an Azhdarchid Pterosaur, like Quetzalcoatulus or a Pteranodontian.  

This big flying animal lived in the Cretaceous Period. 

Antarctic Mosasaur  Taniwhasaurus antarticus

 

Taniwhasaurus antarticus; what a mouthful that name is!  Taniwhasaurus antarticus was a Mosasaur.  It lived in the waters around Antarctica in the Cretaceous Period.  It was about 23 feet or 7 meters long.  It is thought that Taniwhasaurus was a type of Tylosur.  Some Tylosaurs, like Tylosaurus, got to be over 55 feet long!  That would be about 17 meters long!  Mosasaur were the top predators of the late Cretaceous seas. Some paleontologists think that they had a crocodile-like tail but ther is also some evidence that at least some of the Mosasaurs had a tail fluke at the end of their long tail. 

In this drawing of the Anatarctic Mosasaur, the Taniwhasaurus is trying to grab an Antarctic Pterosaur out of the air.  The Pterosaurs in this drawing are also the Dimorphodon-like Pterosaurs found in Antarctica.  The shark is a type of Cretaceous shark.  The fish is a Cretaceous ray-fin fish.  

NOTE:  The above drawings are all new drawings.  The drawings below are from older posts, but they are drawings of other Antarctic dinosaurs etc.  Nearly all these animals were at the Natural History Museum, Utah... up at the University of Utah, in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.  To get to the printable versions of these drawings just click on the "Paleontology" button and then scroll down to the bottom of the list of printable drawings.  New drawings are at the bottom of the lists.  

Cryolophosaurus and Dimorphodon

Cryolophossaurs was a predator that had a curved crest on its head.  One of the paleontologists who found it nicknamed it the "Elvis Dinosaur."  Cryolophosarus is also know to be from the Early Jurassic in Antarctica.  Since even back then, Anarctica had long dark winters, there is some thought that perhaps Cryolophosaurus had feagthers.  So I drew it with feathers as well.  It is known that many later Theropod dinosaurs had feathers.  So just maybe Cryolophosaurus had feathers too.  

Cryolophosaurus with Feathers

Antarctopelta

Antarctopelta was a dinosaur from Antarctica in the Late Cretaceous.  It was a relatively small Ankylosaurian dinosaur at only 13 feet or 4 meters long. Antarcopelta had a club on its tail and the thick dermal armor like a crocodile has.  It is thought that dermal armor, like the Ankylosaurians had, was so thick that even a T. rex couldn't have bitten through it.  Of course, as far as we know, there were no Tyrannosaurs in Antarctica. 

 I think the spikes on shoulders and neck of Antarctopelta indicate that there probably WERE some large Theropod predators in the area.  This may indicate parallel evolution.  Parallel evolution is when the competing animals or predator and prey evolve along side each other.  So if Antarctopelta was 13 feet long, and had huge defensive spikes, and a clubbed tail, then there must have been at least a 

mid-sized Theropod predator against which it was defending itself.  

Trinisaurua an Antarctic Herbivorous Dinosaur

Tinisaurua was a smaller herbivore from Antarctica.  It was about 6 feet or 1.5 meters long.  The fossil bones came from James Ross Island, Antarctica.  Tinisaurua lived in the Late Cretaceous.

Have fun  coloring!