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PHYS 0106 (Spring, 2001) Earth History Timeline |
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| Phanerozoic Eon: Cenozoic Era: Tertiary Period | |||
Timeline Links Phanerozoic Neoproterozoic Mesoproterozoic Paleoproterozoic Archean Other Links Historical Geology Page Physical Geology Page Mike's Home Page |
Writer/Researcher: Corey Peabody Editor: Jess Landi Web Page Builder: Jess Landi The pterosaur was the first flying vertabrate to appear. The first pterosaurs shared a common ancestor with the dinosaurs and appeared at roughly the same time as each other. The first pterosaurs began to appear in the triassic. The range in size of different pterosaurs was enormous. Some of the smaller pterosaurs were about the size of modern birds today, but the larger pterosaurs such as quetzalcoatlus, had wing spans of nearly 40 feet. The pterosaur flew through the air by flapping its wings, not by gliding. Their wings were made up of a skin like membrane, and the support for these wings came from an abnormally elongated fourth finger. The pterosaur had three normal, claw-like fingers and the fourth finger was just for supporting the wings. Many of the pterosaurs had very long and lance-like beaks that were toothless. Many pterosaur fossils and tracks have been found near either marine or fresh water environments. The diet of the pterosaur must have been similar to the diet of modern seabirds. The pterosaur was capable of walking bipedally, although they were probably not very agile on land. What makes the pterosaur more of a mystery than other animals is the fact that it is at an evolutionary dead end, which means the pterosaurs have no ancestors that are in any way similar. There are still many things about the behaviour and diet of the pterosaurs that scientists do not know. |