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Thrinaxodon liorhinus

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My first digital painting in... 6 months! I know I've said I would hang around here and post more often, but, alas, I haven't had enough free time or motivation to engage in those activities; you should already know not to take my words for granted :P 
This is just a little exercise to check if my abilities had worn out over time. Although far from being a masterpiece I'm quite satisfied with the result. There's more to come soon!

This time I chose to do a portrait of Thrinaxodon liorhinus, the well-known, smallish cynodont from the early Triassic, which combined features of true mammals and of more primitive therapsids.
The body hair, rhinarium and fleshy lips are part of my speculative interpretation, of course, since there isn't any conclusive evidence of their presence in Thrinaxodon. It should be noted that, despite the lack of evidence supporting or disproving the presence of those traits in this taxon, there are several characteristics that may be indicative of their absence, like the lack of a Harderian gland, which could imply that the animal lacked a well-developed pelage, and similarities between the rostral foramina where the vibrissae (whiskers) would have been anchored with those of the modern teiid lizard Tupinambis.
The bare skin in the muzzle and around the eye is covered by "scales" similar to those present in some groups of mammals (marsupials, rodents, insectivores, macroscelideans, etc.) and other cynodonts (Castorocauda).

ESTES, R. (1961) Cranial anatomy of the cynodont reptile Thrinaxodon liorhinus. Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 125(6):165-180
FOX, R.C. (1964) The adductor muscles of the jaw in some primitive reptiles. University of Kansas Publications Museum of Natural History. 12:657-680
SAVAGE, R.J.G. & LONG, M.R. (1986) Mammal evolution: an illustrated guide. 37-39 pp. British Museum (Natural History), London.
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jesusgamarra's avatar
Me encanta esta reconstrucción! Aunque hay unas teorías que dicen que no tenía pelo por toda la cabeza y otras que sí, de haberlo hecho seguro que lo tenía como lo has reconstruido. Lo que está aceptado es que sí que tenía pelo en el extremo de la mandíbula inferior. Buen trabajo!