Posted for Mico Tatalovic

Pterosaurs may have been able to fly just as well as birds, thanks to their complex wing fibres, according to a paper published this week in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

An international team of scientists used a new technique involving shinning ultra-violet light on fossils of the pterosaur Jeholopterus ningchengensis to study in detail the fossilised tissue structure. They found that their wings contained several layers of fibres to control movement, and not just a single layer as previously thought.

“The configuration observed in Jeholopterus might have allowed subtle changes in the membrane tension during flight, resulting in more control of flight movements,” write the authors in their paper.

They also found that hair-like fibres covered pterosaurs’ body and wings. “They are different from other furs we find in mammals and they provide us another hint that these animals were able to control their body temperature, they were hot-blooded animals,” says Alexander Kellner, a palaeontologist at Brazil’s National Museum in Rio (Reuters).

The finer aspects of pterosaur flight are still a mystery. Some of these animals weighted 250kg and scientists have previously suggested they had to run on all four legs to get off the ground. Others were tiny creatures (with wing span of just 25 cm), likely living in trees and hanging on with their claws.

But new fossils of pterosaurs are still being found (https://blogs.nature.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-search.cgi) and although some have already inspired biomechanical flying robots it looks like we’ve still got a lot to learn about these extinct animals.

Image: Jeholopterus ningchengensis under natural and UV light / Xiaolin Wang