Re: pterosaur size in the Cretaceous

[Michael Habib <mhabib5@jhmi.edu>]

On Saturday, May 20, 2006, at 07:25 AM, David Peters wrote:

> David Marjanovic might be right about the apparent lack of diversity 
> due
> to lack of Lagerstatten in more K areas. But back to the size issue,
> Pterodaustro, Sinopterus, Tapejara, Nyctosaurus and early Pterandons
> were all in the seagull/albatross range. Nothing smaller, except for 
> the
> younguns.


Good point; though 'seagull' size is pretty small for a marine flyer.  
There are smaller marine flying birds, but not many.  It generally pays 
to be large if an animal is a marine soaring specialist, so terrestrial 
vs. marine habits for Mesozoic birds and pterosaurs have to be kept in 
mind for the comparisons.

--Mike H.