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Day 30 - Scenery with Dinosaurs

At last, it is done.

Depicted here is a snapshot of an environment that gets much too little attention in paleomedia: the late jurassic (Callovian-Oxfordian) Shishugou Formation of Northwest China. Along with the Shaximiao Formation (also from China) and the Tendaguru Formation of Tanzania, it offers a valuable glance at the terrestrial ecosystems of the jurassic on par with the North American Morrison Formation.
In addition to the ubiquitous sauropods, stegosaurians and allosauroids, it was also home to some more unique taxa, such as basal alvarezsaurs, ceratopsians, tyrannosauroids and the strange noasaurid Limusaurus inextricabilis, as well as some interesting crocodylomorphs and a few pterosaurs.
Pictured here are the following animals:

Mamenchisaurus sinocanadorum
The big sauropods in the background. Mamenchisaurids were a relativley basal family of sauropods most famously known for one feature: their incredibly long necks, among the longest of any terrestrial vertebrate, which made up around half of their total body length. M. sinocanadorum is the largest species currently assigned to the genus (though there is doubt on whether it truly belongs there), at about 26 meters in length. Gregory Paul suggested it could grow up to 35 meters long based on two as-of-yet undescribed cervical vertebrae, which would make it one of the largest known dinosaurs, though other workers have questioned whether these remains can be confidently assigned to the animal.

Sericipterus wucaiwanensis
A rhamphorynchid pterosaur with a distinctive crest and a wingspan of about 1.7 meters. It's closest relatives are Angustinaripterus and Harpactognathus, and it was most likley a predator of small, terrestrial animals.

Jiangjunosaurus junggarensis
The Shishugou Formation's token species of stegosaurian, moderatley sized at about 6 meters in length. It was a probable prey item of Sinraptor dongi, the apex predator of the region, but capable of putting up a good fight using its sharp thagomizers. The skull is long but unusually boxy for a stegosaurian, and jaws have a distinct downwards curve near the tip.

Yinlong downsi
The little green guys in the foreground. Yinlong is the oldest and one of the basalmost ceratopsians. I find it to be quite an endearing animal, as it really emphasizes the long road ceratopsians went, from small bipeds living in the shadows of larger dinosaurs, to the magnificent, horned giants of the late cretaceous.

Guanlong wucaii
One of the earliest known tyrannosauroids, which is why I chose to depict it hunting the Yinlong, as a referance to the long rivalry between the two clades (an imperfect depiction, as Guanlong is a proceratosaurid, which are a sister clade to the actual tyrannosaurids, but close enough). The most recognizable feature of this animal is its large crest, a feature common in proceratosaurids and probably used for display. It was also most likley covered in simple feathers, since this integument is known from the later proceratosaurid Yutyrannus.

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Description
Day 30 - Scenery with Dinosaurs

At last, it is done.

Depicted here is a snapshot of an environment that gets much too little attention in paleomedia: the late jurassic (Callovian-Oxfordian) Shishugou Formation of Northwest China. Along with the Shaximiao Formation (also from China) and the Tendaguru Formation of Tanzania, it offers a valuable glance at the terrestrial ecosystems of the jurassic on par with the North American Morrison Formation.
In addition to the ubiquitous sauropods, stegosaurians and allosauroids, it was also home to some more unique taxa, such as basal alvarezsaurs, ceratopsians, tyrannosauroids and the strange noasaurid Limusaurus inextricabilis, as well as some interesting crocodylomorphs and a few pterosaurs.
Pictured here are the following animals:

Mamenchisaurus sinocanadorum
The big sauropods in the background. Mamenchisaurids were a relativley basal family of sauropods most famously known for one feature: their incredibly long necks, among the longest of any terrestrial vertebrate, which made up around half of their total body length. M. sinocanadorum is the largest species currently assigned to the genus (though there is doubt on whether it truly belongs there), at about 26 meters in length. Gregory Paul suggested it could grow up to 35 meters long based on two as-of-yet undescribed cervical vertebrae, which would make it one of the largest known dinosaurs, though other workers have questioned whether these remains can be confidently assigned to the animal.

Sericipterus wucaiwanensis
A rhamphorynchid pterosaur with a distinctive crest and a wingspan of about 1.7 meters. It's closest relatives are Angustinaripterus and Harpactognathus, and it was most likley a predator of small, terrestrial animals.

Jiangjunosaurus junggarensis
The Shishugou Formation's token species of stegosaurian, moderatley sized at about 6 meters in length. It was a probable prey item of Sinraptor dongi, the apex predator of the region, but capable of putting up a good fight using its sharp thagomizers. The skull is long but unusually boxy for a stegosaurian, and jaws have a distinct downwards curve near the tip.

Yinlong downsi
The little green guys in the foreground. Yinlong is the oldest and one of the basalmost ceratopsians. I find it to be quite an endearing animal, as it really emphasizes the long road ceratopsians went, from small bipeds living in the shadows of larger dinosaurs, to the magnificent, horned giants of the late cretaceous.

Guanlong wucaii
One of the earliest known tyrannosauroids, which is why I chose to depict it hunting the Yinlong, as a referance to the long rivalry between the two clades (an imperfect depiction, as Guanlong is a proceratosaurid, which are a sister clade to the actual tyrannosaurids, but close enough). The most recognizable feature of this animal is its large crest, a feature common in proceratosaurids and probably used for display. It was also most likley covered in simple feathers, since this integument is known from the later proceratosaurid Yutyrannus.

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