Prehistoric amphibian questions

[damon]

First off let me say hi to you all...
Hi.
I am looking for help in the form of pictures and size references for some prehistoric amphibians. If anyone lives near a museum of natural history with a decent collection of amphibian fossils i would be forever in debited to them for taking a few photos for me as well as passing along info such as their sizes, skull width, length, (skeleton and skull) and so forth. I have found some photos on the net of the creatures I'm reproducing but, many are not of a large enough format or are at odd angles.

I have done some rough reconstructions in polymer clays based on what I could find but I'm now going to be doing a few larger sculpts and need to be as anatomically accurate as possible.
Thanks so much,

Damon

 

[shaun]

I posted some pictures from the Royal Tyrell Museum back in August:

http://www.caudata.org/forum/messages/985/20116.html

If you remind me I'll try to get measurements when I go back this summer.

-Shaun

 

[shaun]

If I remeber correctly I have a few non-digital photos of models of icthyostega and diplocaulus. I'll scan them in if you need them.

 

[damon]

Hi Shaun,
I have looked at your other post (tyrell) and it has some cool stuff but i need some shots of specific animals and close ups of limbs, skulls, eyesockets and such... Any reference matterials that anyone could point me in the direction of would allso be helpfull. I also need some shots or illustrations of young Diplocaulus.
I'd be interested in seeing the model of the Diplcaulus for sure. I'm hoping to complete three D. magnicornis... I have a miniature rough of one right now but, I will need to be much more accurate with the big ones I make.
Sorry about the sloppyness with this post.

 

[damon]

Here is the rough D. magnicornis. It's more of a color test than anything else and not very anatomically accurate at all but the larger draft will be nicer.

 

[ben-lee]

wow did you make that, it looks awsome i wouldnt mind finding one of those at a petstore

..the world goes on damon do u fancey sharin more pictures with us? regards
ben

 

[benjamin]

I like the swollen cloaca.

 

[damon]

yes I made it. but the anatomy is off and that's why I'm trying to find reference material for skulls and feet and so forth... this guy is about 9" long but the next few will be larger, Male, female and Juvenile. I will use members of Urodela (since no Nectridea exist today) for some color, skin and dimorphism references.

Ha, It's a breeding male for sure... I have more pictures... I Guess I could post them soon enough.

thanks for the complements Ben... and Ben.

 

[ben-lee]

No problem Damon you done a great job

 

[andy]

Hi There! Take a look at this link!
http://www.caudata.org/forum/messages/7/23034.html?1095448546

 

[damon]

That's the one made buy the fellow in Japan... Caused a lot of hoopla... He did a pretty fine job on that but you should see the gremlin he made.

Anyhow...
No one has any suggestions for locating references material hey? oh well... I'll have to try to contact a paleontologist or something.

 

[ben-lee]

Do u sell any of your work Damon?

 

[damon]

Yes i do sell them.... mmmm? sort of? I'm in the process of trying to sculpt a small group of Diplocaulus in different stages of life out of plastilina to be cast in silicone.
They will be life size and I will be submitting images of them to several magazines and possibly museums... That's why i need to be picky with my anatomy.
They will look a lot nicer than the one I posted earlier and better than the Eryops in my profile pic. (I'm also currently doing an much better Eryops on a small scale)

 

[benjamin]

Do they really have enough fossil evidence to tell what larvae were like and the shape of the reproductive organs. Because these early amphibs were not salamanders, I don't think you should base life cycle or even sexual dimorphism on sals. I did compliment you earlier on the swollen cloaca, I'm just wondering if it's based on scientific evidence.

 

[ben-lee]

Hi damon how much would a silicon D. magnicornis cost ( life size) i love that sort of work and i would like more info on the work thanks...Ben

 

[damon]

I'm not speculating about the life cycle... they did not seem to have a larval stage ie. lissamphibian-type metamorphosis but, it has been theorized that they demonstrated a two stage ontology... a young juvenile stage and an adult stage ( I'm talking about D. magnicornus or any other Diplocaulus), sins fossil records of the young of these animals show they had larger eye orbits and lacked skull projections. the growth of this population of juveniles was governed buy this process. As far as color and texture (color = dimorphism with my project) it is pure speculation but there is little point in reconstruction if you are not going to put skin on it. Swollen cloaca? maybe, maybe not... this is called artistic license.

No one will ever know for sure.

How much would I sell one for??? I don't know but it would probably be a fair penny as silicone for casting is around $250 per 5gallon pail and I'm looking at 2-3 weeks worth of sculpting on top of the research, but I'll let you know once I have priced it out.

 

[ben-lee]

ok cool

well i would like to know how much so once your done, could you post on here? thanks