man-creates-dinosaurs:

And since I also mentioned
creationist Jonathan Whitcomb’s ropen – a giant (16 to 23 ft. wingspan) bioluminescent, grave-robbing
pterosaur supposedly residing in the jungles of Papua New Guinea – in that same previous post, I thought I should also share paleoartist
John Conway’s fabulous rendering of one for paleontologist Darren Naish’s Cryptozoologicon Vol. 2 (Forthcoming) – which he co-illustrated with C.M. Kosemen.

Naish, Conway and Koseman don’t actually endorse the existence of the ropen. In fact Naish does a pretty through debunking of Whitcomb’s claims in his book
Hunting Monsters: Cryptozoology and the Reality Behind the Myths (2017) and of the whole phenomena of supposed “living ptersoaurs” here at his old Tet Zoo blog. Rather as explained in their Cryptozoologicon Vol. 1 (2013) the idea here is to show cryptozoologists what these creatures would look like if they existed. Cryptozoologists engage in a lot of “speculative creature building” but because few are trained naturalists their animals often come out looking pretty wonky. Compare Conway’s ropen with this poor misshapen monstrosity from creationist group Genesis Park’s website and you’ll see what they mean.