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*OUTDATED* Feathers of Deinonychosauria

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DO NOT FAVE! THIS IS OUTDATED AND INACCURATE!!!

Because many people (me included) do their feather work on Dinosaurs particularly on Deinonychosauria and other Maniraptora wrong, I did a little research again and came up with this little t*torial, cheat sheet or how you want to call it.
I thought if this can help me not to forget how wings are constructed and feathers are connected, it could also help some fellow Deviants.
Hope you enjoy and I hope I didn't make an error in it. If so, please note! :D


Description:

figure 1
Shows the arm bones of a generic modern bird. The Scapula (shoulder blade) isn't showed here, because it's not important for the tutorial.
As you may notice, there are lines which come from the Digitus major (Digit II) and the Radius - these are the junctures of the Primaries respectively the Secundaries.
Note that the Humerus (upper arm) has no attached Secondaries, they are all on the lower arm while the Primaries are attached to the hand (more precisely Digit II).

figure 2
This is basically the same as figure 1 using an arm of a generic Deinonychosauria instead of a bird. The digits in here are more articulated, but that doesn't matter for the feathering. The Primaries are attached to Digit II and the Secondaries to the Radius. The Humerus plays no role.

figure 3
This shows how the feathers should lay on the wing of a modern bird. They are overlapping like roofing tiles and in every bird in the same direction.
The Alula are specialized thumb-feathers which are essential for the flying ability of modern birds.
Because of the overlap it may look like the Secondaries are on the Humerus as well, but that assumption is incorrect, all Secondaries are attached to the Radius.
The last three (sometimes more) Secondaries to the body are in many birdspecies changed into the so called Tertiaries/Scapulars - the purpose of them is to hide and protect the important primal feathers from dirt, wetness and damage, while they are also a good insulation for the bird.
The grey area in here is the body plumage, not a part of the wing-feathery.

figure 4
Same as figure 3 with a raptor instead a bird.
Note that there is no known Dinosaur which had Tertiares/Scaulpars, this is an adaption restricted to modern birds. Therefore they drawing is a little bit inaccurate - you have to imagine a little gap between the Secondaries and the body plumage.
Also Deinynochosaurs and all other nonavian Theropods lack real Alula. What is labeled here is the Alula are simply unadapted thumb-feathers, hence we should better call it "Pseudalula". Like in the previous figure, the Humerus looks kinda overlapped, but that has not the meand, that there are Secondaries connected, they are only on the Radius (you may notice this is a very important rule, because I repeat it so much).

figure 5
I'm really not sure here, if this is the correct execution of legwings. I used reference from some other Paleoartists and that was the outcome.
Because the upper leg is in all probability merged intot he body, it looks like the leg-wing ends at the end of the leg. This is not true as we see here, it only goes to the knee.

Upper leg and upper arm are no good for wings, please don't attach the Secondaries on them.
The thumb has on Maniraptora now flying function, real Alula or attaching the Primaries on it is wrong - don't do it.
Image size
1113x1394px 1.77 MB
© 2012 - 2024 yoult
Comments27
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WhiskerfaceRumpel's avatar
This is great!  I was not really sure on how to arrange the alula to non-avian winged dinosaurs and you just showed me how.  Thank You!