(cover of Dinopress Vol 5)
Acrylics and inks on cardboard.
I did get excellent first hand information from Darren Naish, main
describer of Eotyrannus to do this reconstruction: The first
tyrannosaurid from Europe... and it's a really primitive one.
Thom Holtz, the tyrannosaur expert, corroborated the diagnosis of the genus:
Yes the shape of the upper part of the skull and the rugose nasals (among
other things) indicate that it is closely tied to the ancestry of
tyrannosaurs. The length and proportions of the legs show that this was a
very fast runner (so I gave it a leopard-cheetah mottled feathery-furry
skin pattern). Being very close to the ancestral stock of bird evolution
I extended elongated remiges right to top of the sides of the arms. The
hands probably had not two fingers but three, all of them well clawed. A
slender, fast predator like this could have only been matched by an
herbivore just as fast and agile: The contemporary ornithischian
Hypsilophodon.
