The latest edition of “Prehistoric Times” is brimming over with lots of amazing articles, illustrations and features. This well-respected magazine has a global readership, and it is published quarterly. The two featured prehistoric animals are the Brazilian pterosaur Tapejara and the North American ceratopsian Styracosaurus. Thanks to Phil Hore, for once again producing a couple of informative and most interesting articles. Styracosaurus provides the inspiration for the front cover artwork which was created by Kurt Miller. Palaeontologist Jordan Mallon explores the Styracosaurus specimens in the vertebrate collection of the Canadian Museum of Nature. The genus may have been erected over a hundred years ago, but despite recent centrosaurine discoveries, “spike lizard” continues to amaze and inspire.
The front cover artwork for “Prehistoric Times” issue 149 (Spring 2024).
Poignantly, editor Mike Fredericks includes an image of a Styracosaurus statue made by the artist and sculptor Mike Trcic. We were saddened to hear of his passing and our condolences to his family.
Styracosaurus Artwork in “Prehistoric Times”
There are lots of Styracosaurus illustrations accompanying Phil Hore’s excellent article. Once again, we have been impressed by the reader contributions. Personal favourites include the pair of Styracosaurus fighting by Victoria Grabowski, the black and white drawing of the impressive head crest and nose horn created by Brad McFeeters and the illustration by the magazine’s editor Mike Fredericks. Honourable mentions too for Mike Landry for his CollectA Deluxe 1:40 scale inspired Styracosaurus artwork and for Wade Carmen, whose main drawing reminded us of the Papo Styracosaurus figure.
Tracy Lee Ford helps us put skin on the bones of sauropods. In a fascinating article the dermal armour of titanosaurs is explored. In addition, we learn more about dermal spines on diplodocids. On the subject of sauropods and titanosaurs in particular, we note that Randy Knol includes the new CollectA Dreadnoughtus figure in his review of recently introduced figures.
South American Native Ungulates (SANUs)
J. R. Lavas continues his exploration of the artwork produced by the highly influential Czech artist Zdeněk Burian. In this issue the focus is on South American native ungulates (SANUs). As with the sparassodonts which featured in issue 148, SANUs were not popular subjects with many early 20th century palaeoartists. For example, Burian only produced a few sketches and no formal paintings. The author has used some of his own superb illustrations for the article.
Macrauchenia patachonica illustrated. Picture credit: J. Lavas.
Picture credit: J. Lavas
Burian’s artwork does feature in an article by Rosta Walica covering the three volumes of the “Prehistoric World of Zdeněk Burian”. The article outlines the extensive work involved in compiling this comprehensive trilogy. There are plenty of Burian’s paintings to admire, the authors including several prehistoric mammal illustrations as well as some of Burian’s classic dinosaur artwork.
Pioneering Palaeontologists and Palaeoartists
This year marks the 170th anniversary of the opening of the world’s first dinosaur theme park at Crystal Palace, London. A conservation programme to protect these grade I listed statues is continuing. Slowly but surely these iconic statues are being restored to their former glory. In a piece penned by Victor Monnin, the observations of H. G. Wells on time travel are discussed. Wells wrote the highly influential book “The Time Machine”. It was published in 1895. The article is illustrated with images of H. G. Wells and two prints highlighting the Crystal Palace geological park.
To read Everything Dinosaur’s blog post about the restoration of the prehistoric animal statues at Crystal Palace: A Palaeotherium is Welcomed Back.
The magazine features an interview with British palaeontologist Mike Benton and the palaeoartist Bob Nicholls. They have collaborated on a new book that examines dinosaur behaviour. The Mesozoic media section contains several book reviews including another volume by Professor Michael Benton entitled “Extinctions – How Life Survives, Adapts and Evolves”.
Other highlights of issue 149 include an interview with veteran preparator Howell Thomas of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and the concluding part of Sean Kotz’s build a Stegosaurus kit.
Congratulations to Chuck Egnaczak, Anders Bang, Matt Finstrom, Chris Alfalo and all the other artwork contributors for Phil Hore’s Tapejara piece and take a look at the comprehensive “Paleonews” section.
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