Testing pterosaur ingroup relationships through broader sampling of avemetatarsalian taxa and characters and a range of phylogenetic analysis techniques.

ABSTRACT: The pterosaurs first appear in the fossil record in the middle of the Late Triassic. Their earliest representatives are known from Northern Hemisphere localities but, by the end of the Jurassic Period, this clade of flying reptiles achieved a global distribution, as well as high levels of diversity and disparity. Our understanding of early pterosaur evolution and the fundamental interrelationships within Pterosauria has improved dramatically in recent decades. However, there is still debate about how the various pterosaur subgroups relate to one another and about which taxa comprise these. Many recent phylogenetic analyses, while sampling well from among the known Triassic and Early Jurassic pterosaurs, have not included many non-pterosaurian ornithodirans or other avemetatarsalians. Given

SUBMITTER: Baron MG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7512134 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature