Juravenator starki
"Stark's Jura Mountain hunter"

Juravenator, originally known by the nickname "Borsti", was a primitive goniopod similar to Sciurumimus. Contrary to expected integument patterns, skin impressions from the tail region show a scaly hide as well as downy feathers, making this creature (probably) more primitive than the origin of full-body feathers in theropods. It lived in Germany (the Jura mountain region, hence its name) during the late Jurassic. I've reconstructed it here with a sparse covering of very primitive, bristly feather-like structures, with a true feather (maybe from the contemporary species Archaeopteryx) blowing by in a gust of wind off the sea.

For more on Juravenator, see the Wikipedia article I helped edit.

Image Details:
Media: Graphite, digital coloring in Adobe Photoshop CS3 using WACOM Graphire 3
License:
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