Among all vertebrates, pterosaurs were the first group to evolve powered flight. This adaptation allowed them to become a diverse group, filling various habitats. Some individual pterosaurs have been interpreted as inhabiting arboreal environments, with adaptations to match. However, a broader verdict on the arboreal capabilities of pterosaurs, or lack thereof, in general remains absent. Measurements were taken of the claws of pterosaurs, and compared to measurements taken from birds and bats. The results from these comparisons show that the claw morphology of pterosaurs largely overlaps with that of modern birds. This indicates that pterosaurs encompassed a wide range of locomotive behaviours, from ground-dwelling to climbing. The results from this study show that the claw morphology of extinct taxa can be compared to data from similar extant animals to estimate their locomotive behaviour and thus possibly predict the environment they inhabited.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-532991 |
| Date | January 2024 |
| Creators | Collet, Josse |
| Publisher | Uppsala universitet, Paleobiologi |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
| Relation | Examensarbete vid Institutionen för geovetenskaper, 1650-6553 ; 632 |
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