[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index][Subject Index][Author Index]
Re: Discovery Article On Pterosaurs
----- Original Message -----
From: "Richard W Travsky" <rtravsky@uwyo.edu>
To: <dinosaur@usc.edu>
Sent: Thursday, October 09, 2003 1:29 PM
Subject: Discovery Article On Pterosaurs
>
> name dropping time...
>
> http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20031006/pterosaur.html
>
> ...
> The recent discoveries, outlined in the current issue of Biologist, also
> suggest that pterosaurs walked on four limbs instead of two, as previously
> believed. Paleontologists have struggled with this issue, due to the
> bat-like way the flying reptile's wings were attached to its fore-limbs
> and hind-limbs.
>
> According to Darren Naish and Dave Martill, paleobiologists at the
> University of Portsmouth in England and authors of the Biologist paper,
> pterosaurs for most of the 20th century were stereotyped as awkward fliers
> with little wing movement.
>
> Now they claim, "Prominent muscle attachment sites on the arm, shoulder
> and chest bones show that pterosaurs were active 'flappers.'"
>
> The flapping must have stirred up quite a wind, as the wingspan of some
> large species, such as the pterodactyl, could reach 36 to 39 feet.
>
> Naish and Martill theorize that the ancient, flying creatures descended
> from quadruped, climbing reptiles. The pterosaurs' sharply curved hand and
> foot claws resemble those of climbing primates and other tree-dwellers.
>
> According to the authors, pterosaurs also had a furry pelt, which suggests
> a high rate of metabolism, likely due to all of the vigorous
> wing-flapping.
> ...
> S. Christopher Bennett, assistant professor of basic sciences at the
> College of Chiropractic at the University of Bridgeport, analyzed the new
> Nyctosaurus specimens, which were found in Kansas. Bennett told Discovery
> News that he agrees with virtually all of Naish and Martill's analysis,
> but he is not yet convinced that pterosaurs walked on four limbs.
>
> "It is almost certain that large pterodactyloids would have had to run
> bipedally for brief periods to take off," Bennett said, adding that it is
> possible the Mesozoic reptiles did not walk much at all, like today's
> frigate birds, hummingbirds and nighthawks.
>
Conveniently not quoted by the author of the web-article was my preceding
paragraph, in which I stated that I fully accepted that rhamphorhynchoids
and some pterodactyloids were quadrupedal and that I had published on
quadrupedal pterosaur trackways. But I suppose it is better to ignore those
comments and make it look like there is a controversy brewing.
Chris
S. Christopher Bennett, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Basic Sciences
College of Chiropractic
University of Bridgeport
Bridgeport, CT 06601-2449
>