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Unnecessary, laughably out of date, and seems indicative that the contributor adheres to mysticism in regards to pterosaur flight capacities when it is know pretty much proven why they reached the massive sizes they did.
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# ''[[Phosphatodraco|Phosphatodraco mauritznicus]]'' {{unit length|m|5}}
# ''[[Phosphatodraco|Phosphatodraco mauritznicus]]'' {{unit length|m|5}}


The smallest known pterosaur is ''[[Nemicolopterus]]'' with a wingspan of about {{unit length|m|0.25}}.<ref name=wangetal2008>Wang, X., Kellner, A.W.A., Zhou, Z., and Campos, D.A. (2008). "Discovery of a rare arboreal forest-dwelling flying reptile (Pterosauria, Pterodactyloidea) from China." ''Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences'', '''106'''(6): 1983–1987. {{DOI|10.1073/pnas.0707728105}}</ref> (The specimen found may be a juvenile or a subadult, and adults may have been larger.)
The smallest known pterosaur is ''[[Nemicolopterus]]'' with a wingspan of about {{unit length|mm|250}}.<ref name=wangetal2008>Wang, X., Kellner, A.W.A., Zhou, Z., and Campos, D.A. (2008). "Discovery of a rare arboreal forest-dwelling flying reptile (Pterosauria, Pterodactyloidea) from China." ''Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences'', '''106'''(6): 1983–1987. {{DOI|10.1073/pnas.0707728105}}</ref> (The specimen found may be a juvenile or a subadult, and adults may have been larger.)


==Speculation about pterosaur size and flight==
==Speculation about pterosaur size and flight==

Revision as of 17:59, 20 January 2013

Pterosaurs included the largest flying animals ever to have lived. They are a clade of prehistoric archosaurian reptiles closely related to dinosaurs. Species among pterosaurs occupied several types of environments, which ranged from aquatic to forested. The table below comprises a list of the largest pterosaurs currently known.

Pterosaurs with largest wingspan

List of pterosaurs with maximum estimated wingspan of greater than Template:Unit length.

  1. Hatzegopteryx thambema Template:Unit length-Template:Unit length [1]
  2. Quetzalcoatlus northropi Template:Unit length-Template:Unit length [1][2]
  3. Geosternbergia maysei Template:Unit length [3]
  4. Arambourgiania philadelphiae Template:Unit length [4]
  5. Coloborhynchus capito Template:Unit length [5]
  6. Moganopterus zhuiana Template:Unit length [6]
  7. Pteranodon longiceps Template:Unit length[3]
  8. Ornithocheirus mesembrinus Template:Unit length [7]
  9. Tupuxuara longicristatus Template:Unit length[8]
  10. Santanadactylus araripensis Template:Unit length [7]
  11. Cearadactylus atrox Template:Unit length[7]
  12. Caulkicephalus trimicrodon Template:Unit length [9]
  13. Istiodactylus latidens Template:Unit length [7]
  14. Lacusovagus magnificens Template:Unit length [10]
  15. Liaoningopterus gui Template:Unit length
  16. Phosphatodraco mauritznicus Template:Unit length

The smallest known pterosaur is Nemicolopterus with a wingspan of about Template:Unit length.[11] (The specimen found may be a juvenile or a subadult, and adults may have been larger.)

Speculation about pterosaur size and flight

Very large animals are defined as megafauna. Speculation exists about the reasons for megafauna development in animals of different epochs. The gigantic sizes reached by some species of pterosaurs have puzzled many scientists most specifically, because of their capacity for flight. Although some pterosaurs were as small as a sparrow, the largest had wingspans that exceeded 9 metres (30 ft) and some are estimated to have reached a weight of 250 kilograms (550 lb). The albatross has the largest wingspan of modern birds, spanning 3.5 metres (11 ft), yet it weighs less than 9 kilograms (20 lb) so the ratio is quite different for analyzing flight mechanisms. Factors such as the warmer climate of the Mesozoic or higher levels of oxygen existing in the atmosphere at the time have been proposed, but it's now generally agreed that even the largest pterosaurs could have flown in the modern skies. Partially, this is due to the presence of air sacs in their wing membranes [1], as well as the assessment that some pterosaurs may have launched into flight with their front limbs in a quadrupedal stance, perhaps as bats do (birds are bipedal). [2].

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Mark P. Witton, David M. Martill and Robert F. Loveridge, 2010, "Clipping the Wings of Giant Pterosaurs: Comments on Wingspan Estimations and Diversity", Acta Geoscientica Sinica, 31 Supp.1: 79-81
  2. ^ Witton, M.P., and Naish, D. (2008). "A Reappraisal of Azhdarchid Pterosaur Functional Morphology and Paleoecology." PLoS ONE, 3(5): e2271. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0002271 Full text online
  3. ^ a b Benton, S.C. (1994). "The Pterosaurs of the Niobrara Chalk." The Earth Scientist, 11(1): 22-25.
  4. ^ Pereda-Suberbiola, X., Bardet, N., Jouve, S., Iarochène, M., Bouya, B. and Amaghzaz, M. (2003). "A new azhdarchid pterosaur from the Late Cretaceous phosphates of Morocco." In: Buffetaut, E. and Mazin, J.-M. (eds.), Evolution and Palaeobiology of Pterosaurs. Geological Society of London, Special Publications, 217. p.87
  5. ^ Martill, D.M. and Unwin, D.M. (2011). "The world's largest toothed pterosaur, NHMUK R481, an incomplete rostrum of Coloborhynchus capito (Seeley 1870) from the Cambridge Greensand of England." Cretaceous Research, (advance online publication). doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2011.09.003
  6. ^ Lü Junchang, Pu Hanyong, Xu Li, Wu Yanhua and Wei Xuefang (2012). "Largest Toothed Pterosaur Skull from the Early Cretaceous Yixian Formation of Western Liaoning, China, with Comments On the Family Boreopteridae". Acta Geologica Sinica. 86 (2): 287–293.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. ^ a b c d Wellnhofer, P. (1991). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Pterosaurs. New York: Barnes and Noble Books. pp. 124. ISBN 0-7607-0154-7.
  8. ^ Unwin, David M. (2006). The Pterosaurs: From Deep Time. New York: Pi Press. p. 246. ISBN 0-13-146308-X.
  9. ^ Steel, L., Martill, D.M., Unwin, D.M. and Winch, J. D. (2005). "A new pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Wessex Formation (Lower Cretaceous) of the Isle of Wight, England." Cretaceous Research, 26: 686-698.
  10. ^ Witton, M.P. (2008). "A new azhdarchoid pterosaur from the Crato Formation (Lower Cretaceous, Aptian?) of Brazil." Palaeontology, 51(6): 1289-1300. doi:10.1111/j.1475-4983.2008.00811.x
  11. ^ Wang, X., Kellner, A.W.A., Zhou, Z., and Campos, D.A. (2008). "Discovery of a rare arboreal forest-dwelling flying reptile (Pterosauria, Pterodactyloidea) from China." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106(6): 1983–1987. doi:10.1073/pnas.0707728105
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