Re: Those amazing walking bats

[Tim Williams <tijawi@yahoo.com>]

Guy Leahy <xrciseguy@q.com> wrote:


> http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090729095054.htm


Interesting stuff.  The paper is open access, although the current version is 
provisional.


Suzanne J Hand, Vera Weisbecker, Robin MD Beck, Michael Archer, Henk Godthelp, 
Alan JD Tennyson, and Trevor H Worthy. Bats that walk: a new evolutionary 
hypothesis for the terrestrial behaviour of New Zealand's endemic mystacinids.  
BMC Evolutionary Biology 2009, 9:169doi:10.1186/1471-2148-9-16

http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2148/9/169/abstract


> Could pterosaurs have used a similar gait while on the ground?

Good question... I don't think I'm qualified to answer it.  The authors do note 
that the "scuttling" quadrupedal gait of these walking bats was/is associated 
with their particular habitat and ecology: "With the body held close to the 
substrate, this style of locomotion [pushing forward and sideways] is well 
suited to moving in confined places, and presumably also for digging through 
and under leaf litter."  Are there any pterosaurs that fit that particular 
niche?




Cheers

Tim