About Things That Fly…

1. About Things That Fly… (or glide, whatever) that have vertebrae and aren’t bats or mammals. (Extinct animals count)

2. Overview (don’t over-view) • Insects-1st and 2nd fliers (many types of wings and two types of musculatures) • 1. Wing-fingers (Pterosaurs) • 2. Birds • 3. Why Birds Won • 4. Interesting Notes (Sailing, Four-wings, Backwings)

3. Only So Many Ways to Fly • 1. Double Axes • 2. Size Limit • 3. High Energy • 4. Metabolism • (If you don’t really need flight, it is a waste of energy to maintain those structures, and nature selects quickly against waste)

4. Gliders/Parachuters A. membranes on toes, between limbs, etc. B. some high area surface like scales, feathers, or Insect wing True Fliers A. membranes between limbs, etc. B. some high area surface like scales, feathers, or Insect wing C. Flap really fast or go find a thermal How To…

6. Pterosaurs • 2 Suborders • --Rhamphorhyncoidea (Triassic-Jurassic) • --Pterodactyyloidea (includes Pteranodons) (Jurassic-Cretaceous) • Reptilian • Membranes • Integument (covered in fur? Sordespilosus Sharov 1971)

7. What is Pterosaur? • Has an elongated 5th digit (pinky) • Unique wrist action to allow power for flight • Keel for breast muscle attachment (i.e. some birds) • Hollow, flattened bones with internal trusses (air sac system?) • Triassic through Cretaceous, they were the largest things in the air • Warm-blooded? Maybe • Aerodynamically sound for flight, even without much of a tail

8. Warm-blooded Pterosaurs? • If they flew, that would imply a high metabolism • If they had fur (Sharov 1971) then that implies some insulation abilities. Would be needed on membranes to an extent to keep from cooling too quickly in flight. Also supported by scutes (Zou and Niswander) • Powering flight requires lots of easy-access energy • Internal temperatures dictate how fast energy is used (chemical reactions). For flight to be an effective defense response, temperatures need to be high initially (otherwise they would have to bask in the sun before flying away) • Flight without a tail requires more computation with a tail (a standard kite is stable, and how smart is a kite) • There are no modern Cold-blooded fliers • Pterosaurs lived in almost every climate

9. Pterosaur Heads • Modified for different food sources • Analogous to modern bird bill modifications • Fishers, crushers, strainers • Evidence of Pelican-like pouch in some Various spp. Pterodaustro guinzaui

10. Pterosaurs • Clip: Rhamphorhyncus and Quetzalcoatlus

11. Birds

13. Birds • Since the Jurassic (~150 Mya) • Jurassic birds: Archaeopteryx, Confuciousornis; Solnhofen Limestone • 29 or 30 modern orders (since 35 Mya) • More than 3 extinct orders • --Liaoningornithiformes (ancestor of Neornithiformes) • --Enantiornithes (teeth) • --Hesperornithiformes (teeth) • --Ichthyornithiformes • Largest Radiation in Eocene

14. What is a Bird? • Has a modified hand/claw with wrist and feathers often used in a flapping or gliding motion for flight • Keel for breast muscle attachment (in crenates) • Feathered and scaled • Hollow bones and air sac system • Warm-blooded • Can be divers, dabblers, strainers, swimmers, runners, fliers, etc.

15. Bird Origins • Did Birds originate from… • Dromeosaurs (Dino Bird?) • Longisquama • Different Archaesaur (scutes) • Other theories (Bird  Dino?) sinornithosaurus

16. Bird Heads • Modified for different food sources • Fishers, cutters, crushers, strainers, rippers, stabbers, priers, nectar feeders, swallowers/casters, insect hunters. • Some birds have no nares

17. Birds Heads

18. Bird Heads The Caprimulgiform MouthOwls, Whip-poor-wills, Nighthawks

19. Bird Heads Pelagornis Confuciusornis: generalized bill note keratinous area Yellow-billed Cuckoo and a Bittern

20. Bird Feet • More variety in modifications than Pterosaur or bat feet • Adapted for different substrates and functions

21. Bird Plumage • Large part of flight mechanism • Keratinous filaments • Multiple pigments and morphs • Mostly Absent in Pterosaurs (most likely, just fuzz) • Elaborately present in ancient birds

22. Bird Plumage Standard-wing Nightjar

23. Bird Body Forms • Short and squat (chickens, grouse) • Long and linear (penguins, loons, hesperornis) • Tall and thin (herons, egrets, legutia) • Tall Runners and Grazers (moas, ostriches, titanis)

24. Bird Body Forms • Clip: Gastornis • http://www.abc.net.au/beasts/factfiles/video/gastornis_v.ram • Clip: Phorurychus • http://www.abc.net.au/beasts/factfiles/video/phorusrhacos_v.ram • Clip: Titanis and Argentavis

26. Why Birds Won Out • Outperformed pterosaurs in small size categories (smaller at KT than pteros) • Birds reproduced faster (than the larger pteros) • Flight mechanisms more resistant to wear • Better ground mobility • Survived KT extinction • Pterosaurs followed Cope’s Rule to an unstable degree of specialization

27. Why Birds Won Out • Better aerodynamics (especially in powered and slatted upstroke) • Could Diversify faster with such easily changeable characteristics (since mostly based on keratin) like plumage and beak types.

28. Why Birds Won Out • The quality of organ modifications • The regression of organs when not needed • The raw potential for morphologies impossible in pterosaurs

29. Interesting Notes

30. Nyctosaurus • Medium-sized pterosaur • Unusual head crest • Possible connecting membrane like in Tapejara (another smaller crested pterosaur) Bennett 2003 • But what would it be used for? (Tapejara at top)

31. Nyctosaurus • Funny you should ask… • 1. Directional control • 2. Sexual Display • 3. Combat avoidance • 4. Thermo-regulation • 5. Counter-balance for beak • 6. Sail

32. Nyctosaurus • Sails can propel ships faster than the speed of the wind itself • Sails must have a substrate to work against; some other force. (the motion is the average of the two forces • Sailboats have water, Land and Ice Runners have… well, land and ice. • The other (opposing) force could have come from their wingtips skimming the water as they themselves were skimming for food. Would work much in the way an Ice Runner system would. Examination of the wing mechanisms show joints (PhIV3-PhIV4) which are capable of such sustained pressures.

33. Skimming Behavior Example:Modern Black Skimmer (bird)

34. Four Wings • Anuragnathus santanae • Eudimorphodon ranzii

35. Four Wings • Microraptor gui • 2.5ft long

36. Back Wings • Who says that wings have to form in just the front limbs? • Sharovipteryx (Podopteryx) Sharov, 1966 • A Glider, not a true flier

37. Back Wings • Pure Speculation: Given Structures Present (membrane, connections, toes), and the right conditions, it is possible that the Sharovipteryx could have faced pressures to adapt, causing it to develop true flight capabilities. • If it had, it may have ended up looking something like this.

38. Bibliography Far From Complete Rham Fur Sharov, A. G. 1971. New flying Mesozoic reptiles from Kazahstan and Kirgizija. Proceedings of Paleontological Institute, USSR Academy of Sciences (Paleontologicheskii institut Akademii nauk SSSR. Trudy) 130: 104-113 (in Russian) Podopteryx Sharov, A. G. 1966. Unique findings of reptiles from Mesozoic sediments of Middle Asia. Bullutin of Moscow Society of Researchers of Nature (Bulleten MOIP) 61: 145-146 (in Russian).Cowen, R. 1981. Homonyms of Podopterix. J. Paleontol. 55: 483 Gans, C., I. S. Darevski, and L. P. Tatarinov. 1987.Sharovipterix, a reptilian glider? Paleobiology 13: 415-426 Nyctosaurus Bennett, Christopher 2003. Wing tip pressures http://www.cmnh.org/dinoarch/2003Oct/msg00405.html Anhanguera Conway, John