New pterosaur paper

[Allen Hazen <allenph@unimelb.edu.au>]

I don't THINK this has been mentioned on DML yet...

   Matthew T. Wilkinson, "Sailing the skies: the improbable 
aeronautical success of the pterosaurs," Journal of Experimental 
Biology v. 210 (2007), pp. 1663-1671.  (The cover photo of the 
issue-- linked to a different article-- is a very cute fruitbat 
surrounded by yellow flowers.)

I skimmed it very quickly.  Reports on a variety of research, 
including aerodynamic theory and wind-tunnel experiments with models 
of pterosaur wings.  The simplest model-- a flexible sail on a 
foelimb/finger mast-- would be quite astonishingly inefficient, 
aerodynamicswise.  Author plumps for a more complex model, in which 
the outer, narrowing, part of the span is stiffened by actinofibils 
and the inboard section of the wing (which he assumes extends down to 
attach fairly far down the hindlimb) is more flexible: it could be 
controlled (tension increases/decreased as needed?) by hindlimb 
movements, and its aerodynamics greatly aided by the effects of a 
propatagium (supported by a mobile pteroid bone) that could be varied 
in angle and area.   ...  It's billed as a review, so covering a lot 
or research and maybe integrating it.

Allen Hazen
Philosophy Department
University of Melbourne