Evolution and Palaeobiology of Pterosaurs edited by E. Buffetaut and J. M. Mazin

Format: Hardcover, 354 pages

Publisher: Geological Society London Special Publication, October, 2003

ISBN: 1862391432

(Includes Shipping to Canada or the U.S.) 

Pterosaurs were a peculiar group of Mesozoic vertebrates, which acquired the ability to fly in an original way, using a membrane attached to a single finger of the hand. Ever since the first description of a pterosaur skeleton in 1784, these remarkable animals have elicited much discussion and controversy among palaeontologists, and many basic questions about their origin, evolution and biology remain disputed.

In the last few years, interest in pterosaurs has been revived by numerous discoveries of new and sometimes remarkably preserved specimens, which have enlarged and changed our picture of this group.

The volume begins with descriptions of several new pterosaurs from the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous of Europe, North and South America, and Africa. Following this, alternative hypotheses of pterosaur phylogeny and evolution are put forward. Several papers discuss the functional anatomy of pterosaurs and its implications for aerial locomotion. The study of pterosaur footprints provides important new evidence concerning their terrestrial locomotion, and this approach is used in several contributions. A developing aspect of pterosaur research is bone histology, as shown by the final papers in this collection.

Contents:

Evolution and palaeobiology of pterosaurs, E Buffetaut and J-M Mazin

A Late Triassic pterosaur from the Northern Calcareous Alps (Tyrol, Austria), P Wellnhofer

New morphological observations on Triassic pterosaurs, F M Dalla Vecchia

A new scaphognathine pterosaur from the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of Wyoming, USA, K Carpenter, D Unwin, K Cloward and C Miles

A new crested ornithocheirid from the Lower Cretaceous of northeast Brazil and the unusual death of an unusual pterosaur, E Frey, D M Martill and M-C Buchy

A new species of tapejarid pterosaur with soft-tissue head crest, E Frey, D M Martill and M-C Buchy

Pterosaur (Pteranodontoidea, Pterodactyloidea), scapulo-coracoid from the Early Cretaceous of Venezuela, A W A Kellner and J M Moody

A new azhdarchid pterosaur from the Late Cretaceous phosphates of Morocco, X Pereda Suberbiola, N Bardet, S Jouve, M Iarochene, B Bouya and M Amaghzaz

Giant azhdarchid pterosaurs from the terminal Cretaceous of Transylvania (western Romania), E Buffetaut, D Grigorescu and Z Csiki

Pterosaur phylogeny and comments on the evolutionary history of the group, A W A Kellner

On the phylogeny and evolutionary history of pterosaurs, D Unwin

Morphological evolution of the pectoral girdle of pterosaurs: myology and function, S C Bennett

The detailed anatomy of Rhamphorhynchus: axial pneumaticity and its implications, N Bonde and P Christiansen New specimens of Pterosauria (Reptilia) with soft parts with implications for pterosaurian anatomy and locomotion, E Frey, H Tischlinger, M-C Buchy and D M Martill

Middle and bottom-decker Cretaceous pterosaurs: unique designs in active flying vertebrates, E Frey, M-C Buchy and D M Martill

Pterosaur tracks from the latest Campanian Cerro Del Pueblo Formation of southeastern Coahuila, Mexico, R A Rodriguez De La Rosa

Ichnological evidence for quadrupedal locomotion in pterodactyloid pterosaurs: trackways from the Late Jurassic of Crayssac (southwestern France), J-M Mazin, J-P Billon-Bruyat, P Hantzpergue and G Lafaurie

Pterosaur swim tracks and other ichnological evidence of behavior and ecology, M G Lockley and J L Wright

The systematic problem of tetrapod ichnotaxa: the case study of Pteraichnus Stokes, 1957 (Pterosauria, Pterodactyloidea), J-P Billon-Bruyat and J-M Mazin

The John Quekett sections and the earliest pterosaur histological studies, L Steel

Histovariability in bones of two pterodactyloid pterosaurs from the Santana Formation, Araripe Basin, Brazil: Preliminary Results, J M Sayao