#ask pterosauria

[pterosauria]

Were pterosaurs well-adapted to swim with their wings like gannets?

Maybe Pteranodon and others that hunted fish. See Darren Naish's thoughts on the idea here. 

[pterosauria]

Out of curiosity, which pterosaurs, if any, do you think would have made good pets?

The ones that weren't big enough to be interested in you as a menu item, for one thing. Maybe anurognathids? They probably ate insects so it'd be easy enough to keep them fed since you can buy live crickets and the like from pet stores.

[pterosauria]

Do the Solnhofen and possibly Liaoning deposits shed any light on the mystery of pterosaur wing shape? Could for example Rhamphorhynchus and Pterodactylus help settle the debate on how exactly the wing and leg membranes of pterosaurs looked? Is there enough evidence to suggest one possibility over the other?

Based on known specimens with preserved wing membranes, many pterosaur experts think a thigh or ankle attachment was likely. Like I’ve said, though, different groups may have had different attachment sites, so for now paleoartists have a bit of freedom in that department.

[pterosauria]

Has anyone ever tested pterosaur crests to see if they affected how the pterosaurs flew? Were the crests hollow or spongy to save weight? I'm curious about exactly how pterosaurs like Nyctosaurus, Tupandactylus, and Thalassodromeus flew. Another thing, was Thalassodromeus really a skimmer?

The crests were probably lightweight enough to allow flight, but they may have hindered the animal to an extent, which is common in examples of sexual selection where one sex has ridiculously fancy decoration (think birds).

Thalassodromeus probably wasn’t a skimmer because the required energy expenditure would have been too high.

[pterosauria]

That comment makes me wonder. Do you think it's possible for pterosaurs to have evolved aquatic members? Both birds and mammals have. And various reptile groups have numerous times.

We know pterosaurs could swim, so I don’t see why not.

[pterosauria]

As I agree with the point that birds are just another group of dinosaurs they did diverge in the Jurassic period while placental mammals diverged in the late Cretaceous. Since both whales and mice are both placental mammals they are much more closely related to each other than modern avian dinosaurs are to non avian dinosaurs.

Whoa. That’s pretty freaky to think about considering how much more different whales are from mice than birds are from earlier theropods. Evolution is ridiculous(ly awesome).

[pterosauria]

I don't understand why people fight feathered dinosaurs so much? Or why it would make something scary. T. rex was 40 ft long and probably weight up to 7 tons. It could have been covered in cotton candy and it would still be terrifying.

Definitely. Besides, what people think would look cool has no bearing on reality. Sorry, unreasonable JP fans. 

[pterosauria]

Update: It makes more sense the way you explained it. I still think it's sort of an unnecessary distinction, at least conversationally. No one is going to hear you say "dinosaur" and think "oh yeah, i have a feeder set up in my backyard to attract those." And I think that's okay, I don't think that's because of a lack of scientific knowledge.

Yeah, I don’t generally go around saying stuff like “damn, a dinosaur pooped on my windshield" either (regardless of what followers of prehistoric-birds might think, lol). It’s fine to just say “bird" in casual conversation.