About Things That Fly…

(or glide, whatever) that have vertebrae and aren’t bats or

mammals. (Extinct animals count)

Overview (don’t over-view)

• Insects-1st and 2nd fliers (many types of wings and two types of musculatures)

• 1. Wing-fingers (Pterosaurs)• 2. Birds• 3. Why Birds Won• 4. Interesting Notes (Sailing,

Four-wings, Backwings)

Only So Many Ways to Fly

• 1. Double Axes• 2. Size Limit• 3. High Energy• 4. Metabolism• (If you don’t really need flight, it is a waste of energy to

maintain those structures, and nature selects quickly against waste)

How To…

• Gliders/Parachuters• A. membranes on toes,

between limbs, etc.• B. some high area

surface like scales, feathers, or Insect wing

• True Fliers• A. membranes

between limbs, etc.• B. some high area

surface like scales, feathers, or Insect wing

• C. Flap really fast or go find a thermal

Pterosaurs

• 2 Suborders • --Rhamphorhyncoidea (Triassic-Jurassic)• --Pterodactyyloidea (includes Pteranodons)

(Jurassic-Cretaceous)• Reptilian • Membranes• Integument (covered in fur? Sordes pilosus

Sharov 1971)

What is Pterosaur?

• Has an elongated 5th digit (pinky)

• Unique wrist action to allow power for flight

• Keel for breast muscle attachment (i.e. some birds)

• Hollow, flattened bones with internal trusses (air sac system?)

• Triassic through Cretaceous, they were the largest things in the air

• Warm-blooded? Maybe

• Aerodynamically sound for flight, even without much of a tail

Warm-blooded Pterosaurs?

• If they flew, that would imply a high metabolism

• If they had fur (Sharov 1971) then that implies some insulation abilities. Would be needed on membranes to an extent to keep from cooling too quickly in flight. Also supported by scutes (Zou and Niswander)

• Powering flight requires lots of easy-access energy

• Internal temperatures dictate how fast energy is used (chemical reactions). For flight to be an effective defense response, temperatures need to be high initially (otherwise they would have to bask in the sun before flying away)

• Flight without a tail requires more computation with a tail (a standard kite is stable, and how smart is a kite)

• There are no modern Cold-blooded fliers

• Pterosaurs lived in almost every climate

Pterosaur Heads

• Modified for different food sources

• Analogous to modern bird bill modifications

• Fishers, crushers, strainers

• Evidence of Pelican-like pouch in some

Pterodaustro guinzaui

Various spp.

Pterosaurs

• Clip: Rhamphorhyncus and Quetzalcoatlus

Birds

Birds• Since the Jurassic (~150 Mya)• Jurassic birds: Archaeopteryx,

Confuciousornis; Solnhofen Limestone

• 29 or 30 modern orders (since 35 Mya)

• More than 3 extinct orders• --Liaoningornithiformes (ancestor

of Neornithiformes)• --Enantiornithes (teeth)• --Hesperornithiformes (teeth)• --Ichthyornithiformes• Largest Radiation in Eocene

What is a Bird?

• Has a modified hand/claw with wrist and feathers often used in a flapping or gliding motion for flight

• Keel for breast muscle attachment (in crenates)

• Feathered and scaled• Hollow bones and air sac system• Warm-blooded• Can be divers, dabblers, strainers,

swimmers, runners, fliers, etc.

Bird Origins• Did Birds originate

from…• Dromeosaurs (Dino

Bird?)• Longisquama• Different Archaesaur

(scutes)• Other theories (Bird

Dino?)

sinornithosaurus

Bird Heads

• Modified for different food sources

• Fishers, cutters, crushers, strainers, rippers, stabbers, priers, nectar feeders, swallowers/casters, insect hunters.

• Some birds have no nares

Birds Heads

Bird Heads

The Caprimulgiform MouthOwls, Whip-poor-wills, Nighthawks

Bird Heads

Confuciusornis: generalized bill note keratinous area

Pelagornis

Yellow-billed Cuckoo and a Bittern

Bird Feet

• More variety in modifications than Pterosaur or bat feet

• Adapted for different substrates and functions

Bird Plumage

• Large part of flight mechanism

• Keratinous filaments

• Multiple pigments and morphs

• Mostly Absent in Pterosaurs (most likely, just fuzz)

• Elaborately present in ancient birds

Bird Plumage

Standard-wing Nightjar

Bird Body Forms

• Short and squat (chickens, grouse)

• Long and linear (penguins, loons, hesperornis)

• Tall and thin (herons, egrets, legutia)

• Tall Runners and Grazers (moas, ostriches, titanis)

Bird Body Forms

• Clip: Gastornis• http://www.abc.net.au/beasts/factfile

s/video/gastornis_v.ram

• Clip: Phorurychus

• http://www.abc.net.au/beasts/factfiles/video/phorusrhacos_v.ram

• Clip: Titanis and Argentavis

Why Birds Won Out

• Outperformed pterosaurs in small size categories (smaller at KT than pteros)

• Birds reproduced faster (than the larger pteros)

• Flight mechanisms more resistant to wear

• Better ground mobility• Survived KT extinction• Pterosaurs followed Cope’s

Rule to an unstable degree of specialization

Why Birds Won Out

• Better aerodynamics (especially in powered and slatted upstroke)

• Could Diversify faster with such easily changeable characteristics (since mostly based on keratin) like plumage and beak types.

Why Birds Won Out

• The quality of organ modifications

• The regression of organs when not needed

• The raw potential for morphologies impossible in pterosaurs

Interesting Notes

Nyctosaurus

• Medium-sized pterosaur

• Unusual head crest

• Possible connecting membrane like in Tapejara (another smaller crested pterosaur) Bennett 2003

• But what would it be used for?

(Tapejara at top)

Nyctosaurus• Funny you

should ask…• 1. Directional

control• 2. Sexual Display• 3. Combat

avoidance• 4. Thermo-

regulation• 5. Counter-

balance for beak• 6. Sail

Nyctosaurus

• Sails can propel ships faster than the speed of the wind itself• Sails must have a substrate to work against; some other force. (the motion is the

average of the two forces • Sailboats have water, Land and Ice Runners have… well, land and ice.• The other (opposing) force could have come from their wingtips skimming the water

as they themselves were skimming for food. Would work much in the way an Ice Runner system would. Examination of the wing mechanisms show joints (PhIV3-PhIV4) which are capable of such sustained pressures.

Skimming Behavior Example:Modern Black Skimmer (bird)

Four Wings• Anuragnathus

santanae

• Eudimorphodon ranzii

Four Wings

• Microraptor gui

• 2.5ft long

Back Wings

• Who says that wings have to form in just the front limbs?

• Sharovipteryx (Podopteryx) Sharov, 1966

• A Glider, not a true flier

Back Wings

• Pure Speculation: Given Structures Present (membrane, connections, toes), and the right conditions, it is possible that the Sharovipteryx could have faced pressures to adapt, causing it to develop true flight capabilities.

• If it had, it may have ended up looking something like this.

BibliographyFar From Complete

Rham Fur

Sharov, A. G. 1971. New flying Mesozoic reptiles from Kazahstan and Kirgizija. Proceedings of Paleontological Institute, USSR Academy of Sciences (Paleontologicheskii institut Akademii nauk SSSR. Trudy) 130: 104-113 (in Russian)

Podopteryx

Sharov, A. G. 1966. Unique findings of reptiles from Mesozoic sediments of Middle Asia. Bullutin of Moscow Society of Researchers of Nature (Bulleten MOIP) 61: 145-146 (in Russian).Cowen, R. 1981. Homonyms of Podopterix. J. Paleontol. 55: 483

Gans, C., I. S. Darevski, and L. P. Tatarinov. 1987. Sharovipterix, a reptilian glider? Paleobiology 13: 415-426

Nyctosaurus

Bennett, Christopher 2003.

Wing tip pressures http://www.cmnh.org/dinoarch/2003Oct/msg00405.html

Anhanguera

Conway, John