Stunningly preserved pterosaur fossils reveal how they soared
The largest pterosaurs, ancient reptiles that were the first vertebrates to master flight, may have mostly soared while smaller ones flapped their wings, a pattern that persists in today’s birds
By Corryn Wetzel
6 September 2024
Smaller pterosaurs may have flapped their wings while larger ones soared
Terryl Whitlatch
Despite living hundreds of millions of years apart, pterosaurs may be more similar to modern-day birds than previously thought. Structures in the bones of these giant reptiles suggest the largest ones used their wings to soar while the smaller ones flapped through the skies.
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The finding comes from stunningly preserved pterosaur fossils unearthed in Jordan. “The mechanics of flight leaves an imprint on the skeleton,” says Jeffrey Wilson Mantilla at the University of Michigan.
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Pterosaurs took to the sky some 80 million years before birds and bats. During their 150-million-year reign from the Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous periods, they conquered all continents and evolved a range of sizes and shapes. Some pterosaurs were as small as a house sparrow, while others had wingspans as long as a city bus. An analysis of their bones suggests different pterosaurs used distinct flight tactics to stay aloft.
Wilson Mantilla and his team compared the remains of two different pterosaur species, and were delighted to find the bones’ 3D structure was still intact. This was a surprise, as pterosaurs’ hollow and fragile bones tend to break down quickly. Computed tomography scans revealed that the two reptiles’ bones were markedly different.
The larger pterosaur, Arambourgiania philadelphiae, had internal ridges that spiralled up and down inside its bones, similar to modern birds like eagles that fly with their wings in a fixed position. Bones of the smaller pterosaur, Inabtanin alarabia – a species new to science – had criss-crossed struts, mimicking those of flapping birds.
