A skeleton from the Middle Jurassic of Scotland illuminates an earlier origin of large pterosaurs
| Autor: | Natalia Jagielska, Michael O’Sullivan, Gregory F. Funston, Ian B. Butler, Thomas J. Challands, Neil D.L. Clark, Nicholas C. Fraser, Amelia Penny, Dugald A. Ross, Mark Wilkinson, Stephen L. Brusatte |
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| Přispěvatelé: | University of St Andrews. School of Biology |
| Rok vydání: | 2022 |
| Předmět: |
Pterosauria
Wingspan Histology Reptilia Evolution Jurassic General Biochemistry Genetics and Molecular Biology Pterosaur Dinosaurs Birds Animals Body Size QE Animalia Chordata Phylogeny Taxonomy Fossils QH Skull Paleontology Fossil DAS Biodiversity Biological Evolution AC Rhamphorhynchidae QE Geology Scotland QH Natural history MCP General Agricultural and Biological Sciences Isle of Skye |
| Zdroj: | Jagielska, N, O'Sullivan, M, Funston, G, Butler, I, Challands, T, Clark, N D L, Fraser, N, Penny, A, Ross, D A, Wilkinson, M & Brusatte, S 2022, ' A skeleton from the Middle Jurassic of Scotland illuminates an earlier origin of large pterosaurs ', Current Biology, vol. 32, no. 6, pp. 1446-1453.e4 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2022.01.073 |
| ISSN: | 0960-9822 |
| Popis: | We thank the National Geographic Society (GEFNE185-16 to PI S.L.B.) for funding the fieldtrip on which the new pterosaur was found, a Philip Leverhulme Prize (to S.L.B.) for funding Edinburgh’s palaeontology laboratory, NERC for N.J.’s E4DTP studentship (NE/S007407/1), and the Royal Society (NIF\R1\191527 to G.F.F.) for funding the paleohistology workspace. Pterosaurs were the first vertebrates to evolve flight1,2 and include the largest flying animals in Earth history.3,4 While some of the last-surviving species were the size of airplanes, pterosaurs were long thought to be restricted to small body sizes (wingspans ca. 2.5 m, and bone histology shows it was a juvenile-subadult still actively growing when it died, making it the largest known Jurassic pterosaur represented by a well-preserved skeleton. A review of fragmentary specimens from the Middle Jurassic of England demonstrates that a diversity of pterosaurs was capable of reaching larger sizes at this time but have hitherto been concealed by a poor fossil record. Phylogenetic analysis places D. sgiathanach in a clade of basal long-tailed non-monofenestratan pterosaurs, in a subclade of larger-bodied species (Angustinaripterini) with elongate skulls convergent in some aspects with pterodactyloids.6 Far from a static prologue to the Cretaceous, the Middle Jurassic was a key interval in pterosaur evolution, in which some non-pterodactyloids diversified and experimented with larger sizes, concurrent with or perhaps earlier than the origin of birds. Postprint |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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