A Jurassic pterosaur from Patagonia and the origin of the pterodactyloid neurocranium.

ABSTRACT: Pterosaurs are an extinct group of highly modified flying reptiles that thrived during the Mesozoic. This group has unique and remarkable skeletal adaptations to powered flight, including pneumatic bones and an elongate digit IV supporting a wing-membrane. Two major body plans have traditionally been recognized: the primitive, primarily long-tailed paraphyletic "rhamphorhynchoids" (preferably currently recognized as non-pterodactyloids) and the derived short-tailed pterodactyloids. These two groups differ considerably in their general anatomy and also exhibit a remarkably different neuroanatomy and inferred head posture, which has been linked to different lifestyles and behaviours and improved flying capabilities in these reptiles. Pterosaur neuroanatomy, is known from just a few three-dim

SUBMITTER: Codorniu L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5012331 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature