Terosaur flight adaptations: A paleoartistical review
- Autores: Hugo Salais López
- Localización: Actas de las XXXII Jornadas de la Sociedad Española de Paleontología / Sociedad Española de Paleontología (aut.), Guillermo Meléndez Hevia (dir.), Alizia Nuñez (dir.), Marta Tomás (dir.), 2016, ISBN 978-84-9138-016-0, pág. 393
- Idioma: inglés
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Resumen
Pterosaurs were the vertebrates that developed powered flight for the first time. Since their appearance during the Late Triassic, these flying archosauromorphs ruled the skies of the Mesozoic Era before their extinction at the end of the Cretaceous. During the early evolutionary history of the clade, pterosaur anatomy and physiology became highly modified and specialized to meet the structural and high metabolic demands of powered flight. Hereby, I present an infographical illustration that aims to review some of the most remarkable adaptations in pterosaur anatomy and physiology to support flight. These include: osteological and inferred myological modifications (featuring the os pteroideus or the notarium, among others; Peters 2009); the structure of the wing and the anatomy and histology of the patagium (featuring actinofibrils; Bennett, 2000); the development of skeletal pneumaticity and an aerial sac system (Claessens et al., 2009), or the neuroanatomical development that accompanied the evolution of flight, granting the fine-tuned motor coordination needed to perform flight. The aforementioned adaptations are depicted in the pterosaur species of the Cretaceous Pteranodon sternbergi, an outstanding example of the degree of specialization acquired by pterosaurs.
