Sentences with phrase «pterosaurs from»

Dozens of larger pterosaurs from the same general time period have been unearthed.

The specimen is unusual as most pterosaurs from the Late Cretaceous were much larger with wingspans of between four and eleven metres (the biggest being as large as a giraffe, with a wingspan of a small plane), whereas this new specimen had a wingspan of only 1.5 metres.

June 12, 2013 — Brazilian paleontologists Taissa Rodrigues, of the Federal University of Espirito Santo, and Alexander W. A. Kellner, of the National Museum of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, have just presented the most extensive review yet available of toothed pterosaurs from the Cretaceous of England.

Myers identified the new pterosaur from a partial upper jaw — specifically the tip of the blunt snout, or rostrum.

The latest findings are based on the discovery of a new species of pterosaur from the Patagonia region of South America.

Not exact matches

At some point during the next period, the Triassic, pterosaurs and dinosaurs split off from the crocodile lineage.

The team compared the thickness of the bones» walls and their resistance to torsion — a twisting force that birds» wings withstand during flapping flight — with similar bones from several dinosaurs, flying reptiles called pterosaurs and modern birds.

This sparse sample size was dramatically increased upon the discovery of 215 eggs of the pterosaurs species Hamipterus tianshanensis from a Lower Cretaceous site in China.

To date, only a small handful of pterosaur eggs with a well - preserved 3 - D structure and embryo inside have been found and analyzed — three eggs from Argentina and five from China.

Dr Witton said: «The specimen is far from the prettiest or most complete pterosaur fossil you'll ever see, but it's still an exciting and significant find.

However, the idea fell out of favour in the early 20th century when Gerhard Heilmann, a Danish artist and scientist, published a hugely influential book, The Origin of Birds, arguing that birds evolved directly from a primitive archosaur, a reptilian group which also gave rise to dinosaurs, pterosaurs and crocodiles.

Pterosaurs may have been furry rather than feathery, but they may not have been so very different from birds in other respects.

Witton and Habib say that wings of the giant pterosaurs were so powerful that the vaulting mechanism could have launched them from a small clearing without the need for a «runway» or a cliff to leap from.

«On the other hand, pterosaurs seem perfectly capable of standing on their back legs, so a two - legged [bird - style] take - off, whether from a standing pose or running, seems equally plausible — depending on the pterosaur.»

That's because the pterosaur used its wings to «stall» as birds do, says the team, so that the animal's body swung up from a horizontal flight position to near vertical, enabling it to land gently on its hind feet.

Giant pterosaurs were masters of the air from 108 million to 70 million years ago.

A century of digging found no teeth from giant predatory dinosaurs, a sign that pterosaurs were the biggest and baddest predators on the island.

Such membranes are known from flying bats and pterosaurs, as well as in flying squirrels that glide down from the trees.

PTEROSAURS may have been furry rather than feathery, but perhaps they weren't so very different from birds in other respects.

Pterosaurs, a group that includes pterodactyls, ranged in size from a sparrow to a small airplane.

The pattern suggests a landing from the air, with the pterosaur touching down simultaneously with both feet and dragging its toes with the forward momentum.

When he first saw pictures of this unusual fossilized pterosaur skull from a private collection, Alexander Kellner, a paleontologist at the National Museum in Rio de Janeiro, didn't think it was real.

The researchers used a large - field SEM approach to analyze a shrimp fossil from the Araripe Basin, a place in northeastern Brazil known among paleontologists as a treasure trove of flying pterosaur remains.

Launching on four legs, the pterosaur would have flapped its wings till it caught these small pockets of warm air rising from ocean or hot land, and then coasted easily on these for several hours.

According to Palmer's reconstruction, pterosaur flight was slow but well - controlled, and pterosaurs could circle ominously in one area for hours, like a hawk or an eagle, perhaps waiting for prey to emerge from hiding.

Fossils of the newly described pterosaur were unearthed from 120 - million - year - old rocks at two sites in northeastern China.

That distinctive bony projection suggests the pterosaur's most distinct feature may have been a pelicanlike throat pouch that could hold fish gleaned from lakes and rivers, the researchers suggest today in Scientific Reports.

His colleague Xiaolin Wang at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing has now found 215 eggs from the pterosaur Hamipterus tianshanensis, each the size of a small chicken egg.

Pterosaur relatives from two continents suggests the prehistoric creatures moved between North America and England earlier in the Cretaceous — despite progressive widening of the North Atlantic Ocean during that time.

Pterosaur relatives from two continents suggests the prehistoric creatures moved between North America and England earlier in the Cretaceous — despite progressive widening of the North Atlantic Ocean during that time, says SMU paleontologist Timothy S. Myers.

«Pterosaurs don't necessarily need land bridges to disperse because they can cross marine barriers between emergent landmasses, effectively «island hopping» from one continental mass to another,» Myers said.

«New North American pterosaur is a Texan, but flying reptile's closest cousin is English: New species marks only the third toothed pterosaur identified from North America's Cretaceous — each one discovered in North Texas.»

Pterosaurs nested on land but their bones are often recovered from shallow marine rocks.

The new Texas native, Cimoliopterus dunni, is only the third pterosaur species with teeth from the Cretaceous of North America.

This is the smallest pterosaur discovered from the Late Cretaceous (Kreh - TAY - shius)-- and by a lot, notes Elizabeth Martin - Silverstone.

Floodwaters from an intense storm may have swept away and buried hundreds of pterosaur eggs in this bone bed, along with the scattered remains of a few adults.

Pterosaurs had three fingers dangling from the middle of each wing; when the animals landed, they left widely splayed marks.

Pterosaurs remain common until the Upper Cretaceous when competition occurs from evolving birds.

The rare find is the first time scientists have unearthed complete pterosaur eggs, researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences» Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology announced Thursday.

The fossil bed found in Brazil contained hundreds of bones from roughly 50 individual pterosaurs, including partial skulls and jawbones, according to the study.

Some 60 genera of pterosaurs have been discovered, ranging in size from that of a small bird to a wingspan of more than 30 feet.