Shakusan Lateral Skeleton view

To make an obviously fictional creature appear realistic, the creator should take into consideration the modifications of almost all of the body's systems as well as its' general ecology. This is what I'm trying to do.

This is my pride and joy species - the Shakusans. They are NOT angels. They are NOT winged humans. I cannot stress this enough. They are similar looking to humans, but have some major differences. We'll start with their taxonomy.

Domain: Eukaryote
Kingdom: Animalia
• Subkingdom: Eumetazoa
Phylum: Chordata
• Subphylum: Vertebrata
o Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Superclass: Sexapedi
Class: Aeolus
• Subclass: Ornitheria
Superorder: Paramammaliomorph
Order:Anemoi
• Suborder: Carnassiadont
Superfamily: Ceratobasileodae
Family: Ceratobasiledae
• Subfamily: Ceratobasileninae
Tribe: Ceratobasileni
• Subtribe:Ceratobasilena
Genus: Aetherdominus
Species: superior

Now, their skeleton.

To start with, the skull. The eyes are bigger than human eyes, and the shapes of the nasal cavaty and teeth suggest a more cainid ancestry rather than primate.

Moving down to the superior pectoral girdle, notice that the upper clavical (called the coracoid) is fused to the scapula, which then provides a stable support for the wings. You may be wondering what that flat bone-thing is on the chest. It's called a sternal plate, and it's a feature found on pterosaurs, which I also shamelessly copied (along with most the superior pectoral girdle) to keep the chest nice and flat-ish. The ribs were also copied from pterosaurs (I them so much).

The spinal column is similar to ancient bats, which allows the Shakusans flexibility not foun in birds with their fused vertebrae. The caudal (tail) vertebrae and the pygostyle (tail tip) is almost identical to birds'. While the legs can be used for steering (like herons do) the tail is neccessary for take-off and landing, as the legs are occupied. It also helps define royalty among the Shakusans.

The pelvis is more dificult for me to explain. I did a bunch of tricksy combinations between bird and human pelvis' to come up with something light and supporting.

The feet. Ah, the feet. I extended the toes to make landing on uneven surfaces easier. I raised the majority of the foot off the ground so that, when landing, the Shakusan has three bends (hip, knee and ankle) to help relieve the stress of landing.

And that's all I can think of. They really should make a category for technical fantasy. T.T

Abused my Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs, Manual of Ornithology, bat ZooBook and a lovely litt;e fold-out of human anatomy ~ Of course, that's the only place that I can find a lateral view of the skeleton and muscles, and it's all of 4 inches high >.<