Figure 1.
A, left Hatzegopteryx humerus in ventral view; B, distal view; C, right Quetzalcoatlus sp. humerus in proximal view. Note the distorted diaphysis of the Hatzegopteryx humerus compared to the undistorted profile of Quetzalcoatlus sp.. C, from Padian and Smith [77]. Scale bar represents 100 mm.
Figure 2.
Pterosaur and soaring bird wing ecomorphospace compared using principal component analyses from Norberg and Rayner [63] and Rayner [64].
Blue shading, wing ecomorphospace of modern birds (from [64]); grey shading, modern bats (from [63]); orange shading; dynamically-soaring birds (tropic birds, petrels, albatrosses); purple shading, statically-soaring birds (condors, vultures, storks; cranes); purple dashed line, extent of pterosaur wing ecomorphology found in Witton [24]; blue dashed line, pterosaur wing ecomorphology of Brower and Venius [81]; green dashed line, broad-winged pterosaur wing ecomorphology of Hazlehurst and Rayner [11]; red dashed line, pterosaur wing ecomorphology of Chatterjee and Templin [19].
Table 1.
Wing attributes modelled for giant pterosaurs and procellariiforms.
Table 2.
Bending strength of several major bones in Quetzalcoatlus and two other azhdarchid pterosaurs.
Figure 3.
Dorsal views of giant and tiny pterosaur humeri.
A, Quetzalcoatlus northropi (10–11 m wingspan); B, Pteranodon (7 m wingspan); C, Pterodactylus (45 cm wingspan). Note that each bears a large deltopectoral crest (dp) and robust extremities. Scale bars represent 100 mm (A and B) and 10 mm (C). A and C, from Witton et al. [121]; B, modified from Bennett [12].
Figure 4.
Albatross, azhdarchid and pteranodontian skeletons compared.
A, wandering albatross, Diomedea exulans; B, the azhdarchid Hatzegopteryx; C, the pteranodontian Pteranodon; D, functional wing region dimensions compared across a standard wing length. A, based on Paul [22]; B, based on Buffetaut et al. [30]–[31], Kellner and Langston [33], Cai and Wei [32] and Pereda Suberbiola [40]; C, based on Bennett [12]; D, functional regions taken from Prondvai and Hone [111]. Images not to scale.
Figure 5.
Lateral view of the forelimb musculature in Anhanguera santanae.
Note that the forelimb musculature is extensive, and that the major muscle base used for flight is more distributed than that of birds. Unlike avian taxa, pterosaurs derived substantial flapping power from several groups of muscles around the chest and back (rather than the two primary muscles in birds), as well as the antebrachium and manus. Illustration by Julia Molnar, used with permission.
Table 3.
Relative masses of different giant pterosaur skeletal components (derived from [24]).
Figure 6.
Skeletal reconstruction of a quadrupedally launching Pteranodon.
Skeletal proportions based on Bennett [12]; kinematics from Habib [40].
Figure 7.
Soaring animal planforms compared.
A, wandering albatross Diomedea exulans; B, the giant ornithocheiroid Pteranodon; the giant azhdarchid Quetzalcoatlus; D, shown to scale. See [24] for details of pterosaur wing planform reconstruction.