Re: Anurognathus questions

["Nick Gardner" <ratites637@hotmail.com>]

Chris Bennett wrote-
> My first reaction is"how wide?"  However, the skull is thought to be
> wide because the skulls of the second specimen, the fragmentary skull of
> Batrachognathus, and the crushed skulls of Jeholopterus and
> Dendrorhynchoides are clearly wide.  You wrote:  "the type is preserved
> laterally"--are you sure?

I know very little about pterosaurs but if the type is the specimen figured 
on p. 273 of Drs. Norman & Wellnhofer's "The Illustrated Encyclopedia of 
Dinosaurs" (Salamander Books: London), then yes, the skull at least has been 
preserved laterally.  I'm very curious in regards to this because I don't 
know if the following data is accurate or not, that being that "its tail is 
reduced to a short stump, similar to the Parson's nose or pygostyl of modern 
birds".  Does Anurognathus actually have a pygostyle? :-?

In regards to piscivory, is it possible that this (and other pterosaurs that 
are similar to it) were capable of wading and fishing in a manner similar to 
some shore-line birds?



Nick Gardner
Paleoartist
AIM CloudRaptor05

"The cat went under the tires, I swear it was asking for it..."

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