Re: Test flight

["James R. Cunningham" <jrccea@bellsouth.net>]

Raymond Ancog wrote:

> I didn't know that there are now two species of Quetzalcoatlus; is it Q.
> northropi and Q. sp.? And is Titanopteryx a synonym?

No, there's still only one.  So far, no differences in the Qsp and Qn wings
have been found that aren't related solely to structural requirements due to
the size difference.  I personally doubt they are the same species, but that
isn't my field, or my choice. Titanopteryx doesn't appear to be a synonym
because its cervical vertebra is somewhat different from the Qsp vertebrae,
while the Qn wing (about 40% of the left wing extant) is quite similar to the
Qsp wing (about ten specimens extant).  But I leave that sort of choice to
others with more experience in making those decisions.  I work only on the
mechanics of the two animals, which I have to treat seperately because of the
size allometries.  Qsp doesn't scale up isometrically to Qn.
Jim