Study casts doubt on traditional view of pterosaur flight

[ImADinosaurRARR]

News article: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/05/180522225549.htm
Paper (pay-walled) http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/285/1879/20180727

Yeh, you know 99% of pterosaur reconstructions these days? Welp, they're wrong apparently.

Basically, the study looked into the ligaments of modern birds (chickens and quails) to see how they effected the mobility of the hip joint. After finding lots of restrictions that would not be indicated by the bones, she looked into pterosaurs and found that it was probably impossible for the animals to spread their legs that far.

"In quail, a bat-like hip pose seemed possible based on bones alone, but outward motion of the thigh bone was inhibited by one particular ligament -- a ligament that's present in a wide variety of birds and other reptiles related to pterosaurs. No evidence, Manafzadeh says, suggests that extinct dinosaurs and pterosaurs wouldn't have had this ligament, too."

Looking at my Pinterest board, looks like everyone's got this wrong, though I do want more research into this ligament. I mean, if crocodiles have this ligament, what gives them the ability to spread their legs? I'm still skeptical but it's the first study of it's kind and I'm interested.

I'ts a shame that this study is pay-walled. Looking at the supply material, it looks like an interesting read :/

[Mini Minmi]

Interesting. I didn't think the sprawled legs were held that flat in most reconstructions I could think of, but yeah, they're more flat than what was likely possible. Hmm... Do we have any traces of membrane in fossils that might help better understand how the bottom of it was attached?

[ImADinosaurRARR]

Hmm... Do we have any traces of membrane in fossils that might help better understand how the bottom of it was attached?

This is the best one I could find. From my uneducated opinion, it seems that the membrane does not attach to bellow the knee (or maybe the entire leg), which makes sense if the legs were held under the body and not part if the wing.

[ITdactyl]

I wonder how other pterosaur workers would respond to this.  Mark Witton was supposed to release a blog post about pterosaur flight - I'm curious if that post would be related to this study.

Apparently David Peters has already posted his opinion on the matter.  (I'm not convinced of the lepidosaur affinities of pterosaurs - accdg. to him - but I have to give credit to his quick response to pterosaur related news)

I'll take this as good information, but eagerly wait for more information before I agree that the current reconstructions of pterosaurs in flight are generally wrong.

[suspsy]

No one should ever listen to David Peters on any paleontological topic, especially pterosaurs.

[ITdactyl]

No one should ever listen to David Peters on any paleontological topic, especially pterosaurs.

Hahahaha... ^That. 

I'm not a "believer" though (not even a "follower" - his blog is just always top hit for Google search), 'just sayin' it seems he's very quick with posting responses/reactions.

[ImADinosaurRARR]

I wonder how other pterosaur workers would respond to this.  Mark Witton was supposed to release a blog post about pterosaur flight - I'm curious if that post would be related to this study.

I asked about the study on twitter and Mark had this to say:

I'm sceptical, tbh. There's some good data in the paper but little consideration for the detailed anatomy of pterosaur hindlimbs. Modelling limb functionality for a group of unusual reptiles from a single bird species is a tall order, maybe too tall.

So basically, wait for more studies.

[IrritatorRaji]

I asked about the study on twitter and Mark had this to say:

I'm sceptical, tbh. There's some good data in the paper but little consideration for the detailed anatomy of pterosaur hindlimbs. Modelling limb functionality for a group of unusual reptiles from a single bird species is a tall order, maybe too tall.

So basically, wait for more studies.

I thought the same thing too, glad to see I'm not the only skeptic, especially since all my friends irl are believing all of this

[ZoPteryx]

I wonder how other pterosaur workers would respond to this.  Mark Witton was supposed to release a blog post about pterosaur flight - I'm curious if that post would be related to this study.

I asked about the study on twitter and Mark had this to say:

I'm sceptical, tbh. There's some good data in the paper but little consideration for the detailed anatomy of pterosaur hindlimbs. Modelling limb functionality for a group of unusual reptiles from a single bird species is a tall order, maybe too tall.

So basically, wait for more studies.

Dave Unwin had similar sentiments.

[ITdactyl]

Apparently Mark Witton's new blog post addresses the "Dracula pterosaur" press release - and is not a hard counterpoint to the article shared by OP.

Back on topic I am curious where this leads and, if proven true, what the correct posture would have been.