Re: Bipedal pterosaurs

["Nicholas R. Longrich" <longrich@phoenix.Princeton.EDU>]

On Mon, 4 Dec 1995 DPterosaur@aol.com wrote:

> Nicholas Longrich writes:
> >>Pterosaurs also most likely evolved in the trees, cursorial origins don't
> seem to work too well for them. (I've seen and read all I can get and I don't
> buy that these guys were bipeds. As Wellnhofer notes, the head of the hip
> isn't even at a 90 degree angle, and the hip sockets open out and up, not
> straight out)<<
> 
> I know this is a dinosaur forum, but if you're interested, I'll be glad to
> give you a new look at pterosaurs as primitive analogs of modern-day bipedal
> lizards.  There are 19 current species that run bipedally without the benefit
> of a 90 degree angle between the head of the femur and the shaft.  One walks
> and stands that way, and thus is truly bipedal.
        Well, I've heard of the frilled lizard and the basilisks... but 
I've never heard of a fully bipedal lizard before, so I wouldn't mind 
hearing about that.
        Pterosaurs actually seem to have something like a high sprawl- 
some sixty degrees, instead of ninety. Reputed pterosaur tracks show that 
they probably would have walked this way. I can't imagine that they 
couldn't run- a lot of birds need a running start to get airborne, I'd 
imagine that Pteranodon and others could have run on their hind legs for a 
short distance just to get up speed. 
        -nick L.