Tridimensional
reconstructions 2

Casts

Dioramas

Extraordinary
Works

Little ceratosaurid

Full-size model

Reconstruction of one of the little bipedal predator dinosaurs, belonging to the Ceratosaurids family, similar to the Coelophysis (Syntarsus) of the North American upper Triassic.
Their little trydactyl footprints, ascribable to the Grallator genus, are relatively common in the Dolomites.
These dinosaurs were till 2.5 - 3 metres long even if more than half of their length was their tail and they probably used to live and hunt in droves.

Pareiasaur

Full-scale model of one of the pareiasaurs that at the end of the upper Permian left the footprints called Pachypes dolomiticus - P. Leonardi et al., 1975 - discovered in the Dolomites in the gorge of Bletterbach and in the surrounding area (Radein, Bolzano, Italy) and in the zone of Recoaro (Vicenza, Italy). Pareiasaurs were massive and heavy reptiles, when grown up they were up to 3 metres long and could weigh more than 1 ton. In the upper Permian they were real giants.
They were tough-skinned plant-eaters with straight legs and did not drag their bodies over the ground like the other primitive reptiles; this can be clearly seen from the trackways and numerous prints discovered in the places above mentioned.
Starting from these tracks it's possible to reconstruct their kind of gait and the position of the model's legs, position that differs from the usual one we can find in the skeletons inside the museums. The structure and in particular the form of the skull is based on the skeletons belonging to the Pareisaurus genus of southern Africa. Probably these pareisaurus were attacked by carnivorous gorgonopsids, whose footprints were found in the same area.

Gorgonopsid

Full-size model

Gorgonopsids belong to the terapsids; they were Carnivora and were dominant at the end of the Permian. In the region of the Dolomites, they attacked and fed on Pareiasaurs, as well as Pelycosaurs and perhaps Dicynidonts. The body was fairly agile and stood upright, the legs allowed a quick walk for having been that period, typical of a hunter. In the gorge of Bletterbach at Redagno in Alto Adige (Italy), seven or eight isolated prints (that are not belonging to a single track) have been found. They must have been made from two metre long and 100-200 Kg weight reptiles. The model has been made according to the skeleton belonging to the Lycaenops genus of Southern Africa, size-adapted to the one that can be obtained from the footprints discovered in our area.