15 November 2016

Dinovember 2016, Day 15

He's watching you.
Name: Herrerasaurus ischigualastensis
Meaning: [discoverer Victorino] Herrera's reptile from Ischigualasto [Formation]
Time: Late Triassic, c 231.4 million years ago
Place: Argentina
Size: about 3.5 metres (11.5 feet) long and 210 kilograms (463 pounds)
Type of Dinosaur: herrerasaurid theropod (primitive predatory dinosaur)

Herrerasaurus is one of the oldest dinosaurs known. Due to its early time and primitive characteristics have made its classification difficult. At various times, it has been considered a theropod, a primitive saurischian (lizard-hipped) dinosaur before the sauropodomorph-theropod split, a sauropodomorph (the lineage that would yield the giant long-necked plant-eaters), a dinosaur outside the saurischian-ornithischian split, or not even a dinosaur. Most recent studies suggest that it is in fact a theropod, and additional discoveries have revealed some similar sorts of dinosaurs.

In this drawing, a Herrerasaurus is stalking past a toppled tree, lurking under some cycad fronds. Mostly, an attempt to keep my Dinovember drawings from being too empty.

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