Re: vaulting pterosaur launch, questions

[Michael Habib <mhabib5@jhmi.edu>]

> > > > Sorry to switch focus from pterosaurs to birds, but how do you
> picture
> _Archaeopteryx_ getting itself airborne from terra firma?  By leaping 
> from a
> standstill off the ground?   <<<
>
> That presumes, of course, that Archaeopteryx got airborne for any 
> significant period of time at all.  It continues to amaze me how we 
> can have discussions using Archaeopteryx as the pivot point for 
> "origin of flight" discussions when it hasn't been properly 
> established that Archaeopteryx flew, or if so, how, when, where, and 
> why?

Good point.  The correct phrasing would be that *if* Archaeopteryx got 
itself airborne, then I suspect it was by a leaping launch.  More 
generally, I suspect that leaping launch is the basal state for birds, 
even if Archaeopteryx itself did not happen to be volant.  It would 
depend, just for example, on whether or not it had a complete foil.  I 
hear rumors that the whacky little guy may have lacked a complete 
inboard wing...

Cheers,

--Mike


Michael Habib, M.S.
PhD. Candidate
Center for Functional Anatomy and Evolution
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
1830 E. Monument Street
Baltimore, MD 21205
(443) 280 0181
habib@jhmi.edu