Safari Dimorphodon walkaround

Dimorphodon was a small pterosaur that lived in the early Jurassic. It was 3 feet long and had a wingspan of just over 3 feet. Although commonly depicted in art as a piscivore, recent research suggests that it lived a terrestrial life and fed on small animals such as insects, reptiles and small mammals that it foraged for on the ground or in trees. Because it had short wings and a robust skeleton, Dimorphodon is thought to have been a poor flier and flew infrequently, such as to get to another tree or to escape from a predator.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]DSC_8323 by E H, on Flickr
The detail on this model is really nice.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]DSC_8324 by E H, on Flickr
Slightly overhead view
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]DSC_8325 by E H, on Flickr
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]DSC_8326 by E H, on Flickr
The name Dimorphodon means "two-form tooth". This model shows this with the large teeth at the front of the mouth and smaller ones further back.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]DSC_8327 by E H, on Flickr
Front view.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]DSC_8328 by E H, on Flickr
Side view. The wings are nicely sculpted. Pterosaurs had tough fibers running through their wings to keep the membrane taught and to help resist tearing. They are nicely depicted in this model.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]DSC_8329 by E H, on Flickr
Basal pterosaurs (such as Dimorphodon) had greatly extended 5th toes that would support a membrane between the legs.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]DSC_8330 by E H, on Flickr
The pyctofibers are nicely done on the body, although they should be on the head as well. Pyctofibers are a fur-like covering that most, if not all, pterosaurs had. So although pterosaurs are commonly depicted as either scaly or bare-skinned, they were furry instead. An insulating coat of pyctofibers is more evidence that pterosaurs were warm-blooded.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]DSC_8331 by E H, on Flickr
The underside.

This is a very nice and accurate model. The only flaws I noticed were the aforementioned lack of pyctofibers on the head as well as the head being too small (Dimorphodon had a proportionally giant head). The sculpting is really nice and it is always good to see basal pterosaurs represented in figures.

Overall, 9 out of 10

Nice walk around and summary

Wilorvise wrote:

Nice walk around and summary

Thanks

Thank you very much for your walkaround. This is a model I need to catch, I have a bias for old tailed pterosaur.

is there some pyctofibers on the wings' underside ?

Kikimalou wrote:

Thank you very much for your walkaround. This is a model I need to catch, I have a bias for old tailed pterosaur.

is there some pyctofibers on the wings' underside ?

You're very welcome!

Well, it seems like some pterosaurs had pyctofibers on their wings and others didn't. To my knowledge, a fossil of Jeholopterus was preserved with pyctofibers on its wings while Sordes was not.

In the context of this model, however, there seems to be no pyctofibers on the wings. The sculpted lines appear to be the actinofibrils, which were stiffening fibers inside the wing membrane that would help to make the wing more taut and to make the membrane stronger.

Untill now, I always thought that this model was extremely ugly , but now you have made me wiser, - it really IS wonderful

I am also surprised that it should have an even larger head , and that it had "Dino-fuzzy" skin

What a marvellous first morning of my new year !
Nothing better than to learn somthing new, and to get a more positive attitude

Thankyou very much

This is an excellent release from Safari. These creatures are very intringuing, how could they fly with these heads and you say this one is downsized. Very interesting the membrane between legs like a bat or some gliding creatures. :)