Following our post last month featuring news about the scimitar-crested spinosaurid Spinosaurus mirabilis, today, we publish some more images of this remarkable African theropod.  Our thanks to vertebrate palaeontologist and co-author of the study Daniel Vidal (University of Chicago) for helping team members to access these incredible illustrations.  In addition, we thank the media department at the University for providing these official images and the press release.

The beautiful artwork was created by talented palaeoartist Dani Navarro.

A life reconstruction of the recently named new Spinosaurus species Spinosaurus mirabilis. Picture credit: D. Navarro.

Picture credit: D. Navarro

To read Everything Dinosaur’s blog post about the discovery of S. mirabilis: A New Spinosaurid Species is Described.

Dani Navarro’s artwork has featured numerous times on this blog.  For example, Dani has provided several illustrations including front cover art for the prestigious magazine “Prehistoric Times”. In addition, he works closely with the Paul Sereno Fossil Lab and the University of Chicago.

An Award-winning Artist Illustrates Spinosaurus mirabilis

This award-winning artist has worked on the study of the Concavenator’s hump and the complete reconstruction of Edmontosaurus from fossil mummies. Furthermore, he has provided stunning artwork reconstructions of Spinosaurus aegyptiacus. Therefore, it is not surprising to find him producing illustrations of the recently described Spinosaurus mirabilis.

A close-up view of the head and neck of the recently described Spinosaurus (S. mirabilis). Picture credit: D. Navarro.

Picture credit: D. Navarro

Mike from Everything Dinosaur states:

“The work of scientific illustrators cannot be underestimated.  They skilfully reconstruct an animal from the fossil evidence.  Their artwork vividly brings to life a long extinct animal and helps to inform and inspire.”

Everything Dinosaur acknowledges the assistance of a media release from the University of Chicago in the compilation of this article.

The scientific paper: “Scimitar-crested Spinosaurus species from the Sahara caps stepwise spinosaurid radiation” by Paul C. Sereno, Daniel Vidal, Nathan P. Myhrvold, Evan Johnson-Ransom, María Ciudad Real, Stephanie L. Baumgart, Noelia Sánchez Fontela, Todd L. Green, Evan T. Saitta, Boubé Adamou, Lauren L. Bop, Tyler M. Keillor, Erin C. Fitzgerald, Didier B. Dutheil, Robert A. S. Laroche, Alexandre V. Demers-Potvin, Álvaro Simarro, Francesc Gascó-Lluna, Ana Lázaro, Arturo Gamonal, Charles V. Beightol, Vincent Reneleau, Rachel Vautrin, Filippo Bertozzo, Alejandro Granados, Grace Kinney-Broderick, Jordan C. Mallon, Rafael M. Lindoso and Jahandar Ramezani. Paper published in the journal Science.

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