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TOPIC: Giant Pterosaur
Blobrana


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Female pterosaur
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Fossil female pterosaur found with preserved egg

For fossil hunters, it represents one of those breakthrough moments.
A pterosaur has been found in China beautifully preserved with an egg.
The egg indicates this ancient flying reptile was a female, and that realisation has allowed researchers to sex these creatures for the first time.
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Blobrana


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Darwinopterus
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Her life came to a crashing end, but the fossil left by a flying reptile nicknamed Mrs T has shed light on what female pterosaurs looked like when they soared above Earth millions of years ago.
The 160-million-year-old fossil, showing an almost complete skeleton of a heavy-hipped Darwinopterus and her egg, was found in the Jurassic sedimentary rocks of China's northeastern Liaoning Province.
Pterosaurs were warm-blooded, winged creatures that flew alongside the dinosaurs between 65 million and 220 million years ago, and they resembled a mix between a stork and a bat.
A team of British and Chinese researchers said in the journal Science that the hawk-sized Mrs T (short for pterosaur) displays wider hips than males, and likely lacked the same distinct head crest that could be seen in the opposite sex.



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Blobrana


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RE: Giant Pterosaur
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Pterosaurs' wings 'key to their size'

Ancient flying reptiles called pterosaurs were adapted to fly in a slow, controlled manner in gentle tropical breezes, researchers say.
Their conclusions are drawn from the first detailed aerodynamic study of the wings, which suggests they did not evolve to fly fast and powerfully in stormy winds.
The research, published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, may also explain how the creatures were able to become the largest flying animals ever known.
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Blobrana


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Dinosaur pole-vaulted itself into the sky

Scientists said they have disproved claims that enormous prehistoric winged beasts could not fly, with new evidence that they "pole-vaulted" themselves into the sky.
Palaeontologists have studied how the giant pterosaur, which was as big as a giraffe, could fly.
They found that the reptiles took off by using the powerful muscles of their legs and arms to push off from the ground, effectively pole-vaulting over their wings.
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Blobrana


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A new study has revealed that pterosaurs was the ultimate flying champ of the dinosaur era, and could clock up to 10,000 miles (16,000 kilometres) at a stretch.
The huge animals likely relied on updrafts of warm air and wind currents to achieve their record distances, said Michael Habib, a palaeontologist at Chatham University in Pittsburgh.
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Blobrana


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Several prehistoric creatures developed elaborate body traits in order to attract members of the opposite sex, according to new research.
The purpose of the exaggerated crests and sails found in many fossil animals has long been controversial.
Some scientists said sails helped to regulate body temperature and that head crests helped flying reptiles steer during flight.
Now a study say these traits became so big because of sexual competition.
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Blobrana


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Aetodactylus halli
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Aetodactylus (meaning "eagle finger") is a genus of ornithocheirid pterodactyloid pterosaur. It is known from a lower jaw discovered in Upper Cretaceous rocks of northeastern Texas, United States.
Aetodactylus is based on SMU 76383 (Shuler Museum of Paleontology, Southern Methodist University), a nearly complete lower jaw lacking the right retroarticular process (the bony prong posterior to the jaw joint), part of the posterior end of the mandibular symphysis  (where the two halves of the lower jaw meet), and all but two teeth. This specimen was found in 2006 by Lance Hall near a construction site in Mansfield, near Joe Pool Lake (recorded as SMU Loc. 424). The rock it was found in is a calcareous  marine sandstone rich in mudsized particles, from the middle Cenomanian-age (approximately 97 million years old) Tarrant Formation.
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Blobrana


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Pterosaur Flight
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Flying dinosaur controversy resolved
New research appears to have ended a scientific debate that has vexed palaeontologists for almost 100 years.

"The structure of the pterosaur wing must have afforded a high safety margin above what was required to support flight in such a massive animal, in order to prevent against any possible breakage or damage which would be catastrophic for the animal. And a forward pointing pteriod would not afford such a safety margin" - Colin Palmer, University of Bristol.

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Blobrana


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Pterosaur
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An international team of researchers has just identified a new dinosaur-eating pterosaur that soared through the Jurassic skies 160 million years ago, according to a study released this week.
Christened Darwinopterus modularis, meaning "Darwin's wing composed of interchangeable units," the new flying reptile honors the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth by providing evidence for an unusual and controversial type of evolution.

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Blobrana


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Pterosaur track
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An ancient runway for flying reptiles called pterosaurs has been found in France, say researchers writing in a Royal Society journal.
Led by Jean-Michel Mazin, the international team found a 150 million year-old landing strip in Crayssac in South West France.

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