The wings of pterosaurs

Padian, Kevin; Rayner, Jmv

doi:10.2475/ajs.293.a.91

Cited by 96 publications

(149 citation statements)

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“…Microscopic analysis of the Pterosaur wing membrane showed that the patagium was covered with ultrafine hair-like structures, with a diameter of only 0.01 mm, whose function remains subject to speculation (26). Birds have vibrotactile Herbst corpuscles at the feather bases that aid in flight control (10,27), but no Merkel receptors, which are found only in featherless skin (28).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bat wing sensors support flight control

Sterbing

Chadha²,

Chiu³

et al. 2011

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

158

101

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Bats are the only mammals capable of powered flight, and they perform impressive aerial maneuvers like tight turns, hovering, and perching upside down. The bat wing contains five digits, and its specialized membrane is covered with stiff, microscopically small, domed hairs. We provide here unique empirical evidence that the tactile receptors associated with these hairs are involved in sensorimotor flight control by providing aerodynamic feedback. We found that neurons in bat primary somatosensory cortex respond with directional sensitivity to stimulation of the wing hairs with low-speed airflow. Wing hairs mostly preferred reversed airflow, which occurs under flight conditions when the airflow separates and vortices form. This finding suggests that the hairs act as an array of sensors to monitor flight speed and/or airflow conditions that indicate stall. Depilation of different functional regions of the bats' wing membrane altered the flight behavior in obstacle avoidance tasks by reducing aerial maneuverability, as indicated by decreased turning angles and increased flight speed.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bat wing sensors support flight control

Sterbing

Chadha²,

Chiu³

et al. 2011

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

158

101

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Whilst the mode of flight in pterosaurs has been debated (Witton and Habib 2010), avian-like air-sacs have recently been described in the earliest pterosaurs (Butler et al 2009) and it has long been recognised that at least some pterosaurs possessed integumentary structures resembling fur (Padian and Rayner 1993;Lü 2002). At present the evidence is equivocal, but it remains an intriguing possibility that pterosaurs represent a third evolution of endothermy, but in a clade that has become extinct.…”

Section: Other Extinct Reptilian Taxamentioning

confidence: 99%

Dinosaur Energetics: Setting the Bounds on Feasible Physiologies and Ecologies

Clarke

2013

The American Naturalist

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The metabolic status of dinosaurs has long been debated but remains unresolved as no consistent picture has yet emerged from a range of anatomical and isotopic evidence. Quantitative analysis of dinosaur energetics, based on general principles applicable to all vertebrates, shows that many features of dinosaur lifestyle are compatible with a physiology similar to that of extant lizards, scaled up to dinosaur body masses and temperatures. Sufficient metabolic scope would have been available to support observed dinosaur growth rates and allow considerable locomotor activity, perhaps even migration. Since at least one dinosaur lineage evolved true endothermy, this analysis emphasises that there was no single dinosaur physiology. Many small theropods were insulated with feathers and appear to have been partial or full endotherms. Uninsulated small taxa, and all juveniles, would presumably have been ectothermic, with consequent diurnal and seasonal variations in body temperature. In larger taxa inertial homeothermy would have resulted in warm and stable body temperatures, but with a basal metabolism significantly below that of living mammals or birds of the same size. It would appear that dinosaurs exhibited a range of metabolic levels to match the broad spectrum of ecological niches they occupied.

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“…cantly, a cladistic analysis of pterosaur relationships dictated that they were a sister group of dinosaurs (Padian, 1984) and, therefore, evolved ''from small, active, bipedal terrestrial predecessors'' (Padian, 1991). This phylogenetic interpretation constrained the biomechanical analysis of terrestrial locomotion in basal pterosaurs, resulting in the conclusion that the hindlimbs of the earliest forms were necessarily held in an upright, bipedal, parasagittal posture and digitigrade stance like that of theropods.…”

Section: Problems With a Cursorial Dinosaurian Origin Of Flightmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gravity-defying Behaviors: Identifying Models for Protoaves

Geist

Feduccia

2000

Am Zool

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SYNOPSIS.Most current phylogenetic hypotheses based upon cladistic methodology assert that birds are the direct descendants of derived maniraptoran theropod dinosaurs, and that the origin of avian flight necessarily developed within a terrestrial context (i.e., from the ''ground up''). Most theoretical aerodynamic and energetic models or chronologically appropriate fossil data do not support these hypotheses for the evolution of powered flight. The more traditional model for the origin of flight derives birds from among small arboreal early Mesozoic archosaurs (''thecodonts''). According to this model, protoavian ancestors developed flight in the trees via a series of intermediate stages, such as leaping, parachuting, gliding, and flapping. This model benefits from the assemblage of living and extinct arboreal vertebrates that engage in analogous non-powered aerial activities using elevation as a source of gravitational energy. Recent reports of ''feathered theropods'' notwithstanding, the evolution of birds from any known group of maniraptoran theropods remains equivocal.

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The wings of pterosaurs

Cited by 96 publications

References 0 publications

Bat wing sensors support flight control

Bat wing sensors support flight control

Dinosaur Energetics: Setting the Bounds on Feasible Physiologies and Ecologies

Gravity-defying Behaviors: Identifying Models for Protoaves

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