Pterosaur size explained

Pterosaurs included the largest flying animals ever to have lived. They are a clade of prehistoric archosaurian reptiles closely related to dinosaurs. Species among pterosaurs occupied several types of environments, which ranged from aquatic to forested. Below are the lists that comprise the smallest and the largest pterosaurs known .

Smallest pterosaurs

The smallest known pterosaur is Nemicolopterus with a wingspan of about 250NaN0.[1] The specimen found may be a juvenile or a subadult, however, and adults may have been larger. Anurognathus is another small pterosaur, with a wingspan of and in body mass,[2] along with an indeterminate non-pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Portland Formation, although it is indeterminate and known from very fragmentary remains, only including a tooth, and part of the wrist bones.

Pterosaurs with largest wingspan

This is a list of pterosaurs with estimated maximum wingspan of more than 5 meters (16 feet):

  1. Hatzegopteryx thambema 10-[3] [4]
  2. Quetzalcoatlus northropi 10-
  3. Cryodrakon boreas 100NaN0[5]
  4. Undescribed specimen from Mongolia 100NaN0[6] [7]
  5. Thanatosdrakon amaru 90NaN0[8]
  6. Arambourgiania philadelphiae 8-[5]
  7. Tropeognathus mesembrinus 8.26-[9] [10]
  8. Pteranodon longiceps 7.25-[11] [12]
  9. Thapunngaka shawi 6-[13]
  10. Alanqa saharica [14] [5]
  11. Santanadactylus araripensis 5.70NaN0[15]
  12. Cearadactylus atrox 5.50NaN0[15]

The largest of non-pterodactyloid pterosaurs as well as the largest Jurassic pterosaur[16] was Dearc, with an estimated wingspan between and . Only a fragmentary rhamphorhynchid specimen from Germany could be larger (184 % the size of the biggest Rhamphorhynchus).[17] Other huge non-pterodactyloid pterosaurs are Sericipterus, Campylognathoides and Harpactognathus, with the wingspan of,[18],[18] and,[17] respectively. Middle Jurassic Angustinaripterus had a wingspan of .[19]

Speculation about pterosaur size and flight

Some species of pterosaurs grew to very large sizes and this has implications for their capacity for flight. Many pterosaurs were small but the largest had wingspans which exceeded 90NaN0. The largest of these are estimated to have weighed . For comparison, the wandering albatross has the largest wingspan of living birds at up to 3.50NaN0 but usually weighs less than . This indicates that the largest pterosaurs may have had higher wing loadings than modern birds (depending on wing profile) and this has implications for the manner in which pterosaur flight might differ from that of modern birds.

Factors such as the warmer climate of the Mesozoic or higher levels of atmospheric oxygen have been proposed but it is now generally agreed that even the largest pterosaurs could have flown in today's skies.[20] Partly, this is due to the presence of air sacs in their wing membranes,[21] and that pterosaurs launched into flight using their front limbs in a quadrupedal stance similar to that of modern bats, a method faster and less energy taxing than the bipedal launching of modern birds.[22] [23]

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Wang . X. . Kellner . A.W.A. . Zhou . Z. . Campos . D.A. . 2008 . Discovery of a rare arboreal forest-dwelling flying reptile (Pterosauria, Pterodactyloidea) from China . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . 105. 6 . 1983–1987 . 10.1073/pnas.0707728105 . 18268340 . 2538868. 2008PNAS..105.1983W. free .
  2. Witton, M.P. (2008) "A new approach to determining pterosaur body mass and its implications for pterosaur flight". Zitteliania B28: 143-159
  3. Witton . Mark P. . Martill . David M. . Loveridge . Robert F. . 2010 . Clipping the Wings of Giant Pterosaurs: Comments on Wingspan Estimations and Diversity . Acta Geoscientica Sinica . 31 . Supp 1 . 79–81.
  4. M.P. . Witton . D. . Naish . Neck biomechanics indicate that giant Transylvanian azhdarchid pterosaurs were short-necked arch predators . 5 . e2908 . 10.7717/peerj.2908 . 28133577 . 5248582 . PeerJ . 2017 . free .
  5. Book: Paul, Gregory S.. The Princeton Field Guide to Pterosaurs. 2022. Princeton University Press. 155–172. 10.1515/9780691232218. 9780691232218. 249332375 .
  6. Takanobu Tsuihiji, Brian Andres, Patrick M O'Connor, Mahito Watabe, Khishigjav Tsogtbaatar, Mainbayar Buuvei . 2017 . Gigantic pterosaurian remains from the Upper Cretaceous of Mongolia . Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology . 37 . 5 . e1361431 . 10.1080/02724634.2017.1361431. 2017JVPal..37E1431T . 134424023 .
  7. Web site: Ancient Winged Terror Was One of the Largest Animals to Fly. 31 October 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190330060740/https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/10/new-pterosaur-found-mongolia-largest-fossils-science/ . 30 March 2019.
  8. Ortiz David . Leonardo D. . González Riga . Bernardo J. . Kellner . Alexander W. A. . 12 April 2022 . Thanatosdrakon amaru, gen. ET SP. NOV., a giant azhdarchid pterosaur from the upper Cretaceous of Argentina . Cretaceous Research . 135 . 105228 . 10.1016/j.cretres.2022.105228 . 2022CrRes.13705228O . 248140163 . 12 April 2022.
  9. Kellner . A. W. A. . Campos . D. A. . Sayão . J. M. . Saraiva . A. N. A. F. . Rodrigues . T. . Oliveira . G. . Cruz . L. A. . Costa . F. R. . Silva . H. P. . Ferreira . J. S. . The largest flying reptile from Gondwana: A new specimen of Tropeognathus cf. T. Mesembrinus Wellnhofer, 1987 (Pterodactyloidea, Anhangueridae) and other large pterosaurs from the Romualdo Formation, Lower Cretaceous, Brazil . 10.1590/S0001-37652013000100009 . Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências . 85 . 1 . 113–135 . 2013 . 23538956. free .
  10. Rodrigues . T. . Kellner . A. . 10.3897/zookeys.308.5559 . Taxonomic review of the Ornithocheirus complex (Pterosauria) from the Cretaceous of England . ZooKeys . 308 . 1–112 . 2013 . 23794925. 3689139. free . 2013ZooK..308....1R .
  11. Bennett . S.C. . 1994 . The Pterosaurs of the Niobrara Chalk . The Earth Scientist . 11 . 1. 22–25.
  12. Witton. Mark Paul. 2010. Pteranodon and beyond: The history of giant pterosaurs from 1870 onwards. Geological Society, London, Special Publications. 343. 1. 313–323. 10.1144/SP343.19. 2010GSLSP.343..313W. 128801077. ResearchGate.
  13. Timothy M. Richards . Paul E. Stumkat . Steven W. Salisbury . 2021 . A new species of crested pterosaur (Pterodactyloidea, Anhangueridae) from the Lower Cretaceous (upper Albian) of Richmond, North West Queensland, Australia . Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology . 41 . 3 . e1946068 . 10.1080/02724634.2021.1946068. 2021JVPal..41E6068R .
  14. Ibrahim. Nizar. Nizar Ibrahim. Unwin. David M. Martill. David M. Baidder. Lahssen. Zouhri. Samir. 2010. A New Pterosaur (Pterodactyloidea: Azhdarchidae) from the Upper Cretaceous of Morocco. PLOS ONE. 5. 5. e10875. 10.1371/journal.pone.0010875. 2877115. 20520782. 2010PLoSO...510875I. free.
  15. Wellnhofer, P. (1991). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Pterosaurs. New York: Barnes and Noble Books. pp. 124. .
  16. Web site: Fossil of largest Jurassic pterosaur found on Skye . BBC News . 22 February 2022 . 22 February 2022.
  17. Spindler . Frederik . Ifrim . Christina . Die Spur einer Spur – ein möglicher erster Flugsaurier aus Ettling Trace of a trace – a putative first pterosaur from the Ettling locality . Archaeopteryx. 37. 75–83. 2021 .
  18. Andres . B. . Clark . J. M. . Xing . X. . 2010 . A new rhamphorhynchid pterosaur from the Upper Jurassic of Xinjiang, China, and the phylogenetic relationships of basal pterosaurs . Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology . 30 . 1 . 163–187 . 10.1080/02724630903409220. 2010JVPal..30..163A . 53688256 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210731194047/http://doc.rero.ch/record/31614/files/PAL_E956.pdf. 31 July 2021.
  19. [Peter Wellnhofer|Wellnhofer]
  20. Witton, Mark P. (2013). Pterosaurs: Natural History, Evolution, Anatomy. Princeton University Press. .
  21. Claessens. Leon P. A. M.. O'Connor. Patrick M.. Unwin. David M.. Respiratory Evolution Facilitated the Origin of Pterosaur Flight and Aerial Gigantism. PLOS ONE. February 18, 2009. 4. 3. 10.1371/journal.pone.0004497. e4497. 19223979. 2637988. 2009PLoSO...4.4497C. free.
  22. Fox. Stuart. How Giant Pterosaurs Took Flight. Scientific American. May 1, 2009. July 11, 2014.
  23. Witton, Mark P. (2013). Pterosaurs: Natural History, Evolution, Anatomy. Princeton University Press. .