PZ Myers. 2005 Oct 05. Feilongus youngi. <http://pharyngula.org/index/weblog/feilongus_youngi/>. Accessed 2008 Nov 20.

Posted on M00o93H7pQ09L8X1t49cHY01Z5j4TT91fGfr on Wednesday, October 05, 2005

Feilongus youngi

There's a photo of a lovely new pterosaur fossil below the fold.

image
a, Skull. b, Drawing showing the contact of cranial bones (the posterior part of the skull is rotated for clarity). c, Reconstruction. Scale bars, 50 mm. ang, angular; art, articular; at, atlas; bo, basioccipital; bs, basisphenoid; d, dentary; dep, depression; f, frontal; fo, foramen; fola, foramen lacrimale; hy, hyoid bone; j, jugal; la, lacrimal; ltf, lower temporal fenestra; m, maxilla; n, nasal; naof, nasoantorbital fenestra; op, opisthotic; or, orbit; p, parietal; pcr, parietal crest; pf, prefrontal; pl, palatine; pm, premaxilla; pmcr, premaxillary crest; prn, processus nasalis; pty, pterygoid; q, quadrate; qj, quadratojugal; san, surangular; scl, slerotic ring; sor, supraorbital; spl, splenial; sq, squamosal; utf, upper temporal fenestra. l indicates left and r indicates right.

One other cool thing about the assemblage they're digging up in China is that it suggests a few things about the distribution of species: pterosaurs and few birds on the coasts, birds and few pterosaurs inland.

The Jehol deposits constitute an opportunity to examine the question related to the interaction (and competition) between pterosaurs and birds. The Yixian Formation has furnished an estimated 40 pterosaur remains and more than 1,000 birds. The Jiufotang Formation recorded about 100 pterosaur remains compared with the remains of more than 1,000 birds. Overall, there are 21 avian species described and we know of at least five more. Including the two new pterosaurs described here, there are 13 described and 3 undescribed species. This preliminary analysis clearly shows that birds are more diverse and outnumber pterosaurs (in both the Yixian and Jiufotang formations). This information and comparisons with other deposits leads to the hypothesis that the avian fauna of the Lower Cretaceous—and perhaps most of the Mesozoic era—was more confined to terrestrial, inland regions, whereas pterosaurs dominated the coastal areas. The Jehol deposits are unique Cretaceous terrestrial ecosystems where this question can be refined in the future with more precise stratigraphic information regarding the co-occurrence of these volant creatures.

Wang X, Kellner AWA, Zhou Z, Campos Dde A (2005)Pterosaur diversity and faunal turnover in Cretaceous terrestrial ecosystems in China. Nature 437(7060):875-880.

Posted by PZ Myers on 10/05 at 07:08 PM
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  1. Pterosaurs catching fish? Birds catching bugs in the woods? Any speculations yet?
    #: Posted by coturnix  on  10/05  at  07:26 PM
  2. Thats so cool, theres nothing to add to the awesomeness of this thread to make it better
    #: Posted by  on  10/05  at  09:07 PM
  3. Perhaps the birds did more hopping in the undergrowth and up tree-trunks while the pterosaurs needed the clear air and drop of a cliff to take off.
    #: Posted by  on  10/06  at  03:34 AM
  4. I can't quite tell ... but is this showing the big, pointy-beaked thing in the act of attempting to snack on the small, perhaps mouse-shaped thing? Very cool either way ... just curious.
    #: Posted by  on  10/06  at  06:12 AM
  5. Mmmm. It's like porno for palaeos.
    #: Posted by  on  10/06  at  06:35 AM
  6. Beautiful.

    -Schmitt.
    #: Posted by  on  10/06  at  08:41 AM
  7. #42854: Sharona — 10/06 at 06:12 AM
    I can't quite tell ... but is this showing the big, pointy-beaked thing in the act of attempting to snack on the small, perhaps mouse-shaped thing? Very cool either way ... just curious.


    The abbreviations for the bones of the mouse-shaped thing suggest that it is part of the (pterosaur) skull that surrounds the eye. Not totally up on bird skull parts, but that would be the case for a fish skull. Likely prior to fossilization, the orbit shifted or was slightly dissociated from the upper and lower jaws and skull. Figuring this stuff out is why paleo people have to have a touch or more of the artistic, I think.
    #: Posted by  on  10/06  at  09:20 AM
  8. Fossils rarely are snapshots of behavior. The skull is partially disarticulated, meaning the critter was dead when buried by sediments or ash. Notice the teeth that are out of their sockets and disoriented (compare the photo to the drawing). The jaws aren't about to "snack" on what turns out to be another disarticulted portion of the critter's own skull. This isn't a paleo Polariod moment. Just a little post-mortem shuffle of parts.
    #: Posted by  on  10/06  at  09:42 AM
  9. It is such a shame these things aren't alive anymore, they'd be cool as hell to watch in action...
    #: Posted by  on  10/06  at  09:48 AM
  10. Darn ... well, it would have been really swell had it been a snapshot in time, but I still think it's cool as is.
    #: Posted by  on  10/06  at  11:06 AM
  11. "Perhaps the birds did more hopping in the undergrowth and up tree-trunks while the pterosaurs needed the clear air and drop of a cliff to take off."

    And perhaps more wind and coastal updrafts.
    #: Posted by  on  10/06  at  12:30 PM
  12. I don't think that pterosaurs required any sort of assistance in their flight. Studies by Witmer et al. indicate pterosaurs were probably superior fliers as compared to birds. I'm quiter sure they would have no trouble taking off inland from level ground with little wind.

    Pterosaurs definitely did occupy very different niches from birds, however. Most of them probably depended fish, anurognathids probably occipied a nighthawk niche, tapejarid pterosaurs are somewhat uncertain as far as the niche they occupied, and large azhdarchid pterosaurs probably acted as storks. The known birds on the other hand seem to have mostly fed on seeds, insects, and, for some, small mammals.
    #: Posted by Archosaurian  on  10/06  at  08:05 PM