Pterosaur Diving Model

$400.00

Pterosaurs or Tropeognathus mesembrinus or “wing lizard” were flying reptiles of the extinct clade or order Pterosauria. They existed during most of the Mesozoic.

Description

Pterosaur Diving Model measures 52.5 in. wing span. Pterosaur Diving Model is museum quality polyurethane cast. Made in the USA. Scientific name is Tropeognathus mesembrinus.

Pterosaurs or Tropeognathus mesembrinus or “wing lizard” were flying reptiles of the extinct clade or order Pterosauria. They existed during most of the Mesozoic.

The anatomy of Pterosaurs or Tropeognathus mesembrinus was highly modified from their reptilian ancestors by the adaptation to flight. Pterosaur bones were hollow and air-filled, like those of birds. This provided a higher muscle attachment surface for a given skeletal weight.

The bone walls were often paper-thin. They had a large and keeled breastbone for flight muscles and an enlarged brain able to coordinate complex flying behavior. Pterosaur or Tropeognathus mesembrinus skeletons often show considerable fusion. In the skull, the sutures between elements disappeared.

Basal Pterosaurs sported coats of hair like filaments known as pycnofibers, which covered their bodies and parts of their wings. Pycnofibers grew in several forms, from simple filaments to branching down feathers.

These are homologous to the down feathers of birds and some dinosaurs, suggesting that early feathers evolved in the common ancestor of Pterosaurs or Tropeognathus mesembrinus and dinosaurs, possibly as insulation. In life, Pterosaurs would have had smooth or fluffy coats that did not resemble bird feathers.

Basal Pterosaurs were warm blooded (endothermic) active animals. The respiratory system had efficient unidirectional “flow-through” breathing using air sacs, which hollowed out their bones to an extreme extent.

Pterosaurs or Tropeognathus mesembrinus spanned a wide range of adult sizes, from the very small anurognathids to the largest known flying creatures of all time, including Quetzalcoatlus and Hatzegopteryx, which reached wingspans of at least nine meters.

The combination of endothermy, a good oxygen supply and strong muscles allowed pterosaurs to be powerful and capable flyers.

Basal Pterosaurs had a variety of lifestyles. Traditionally seen as fish-eaters, the group is now understood to have included hunters of land animals, insectivores, fruit eaters and even predators of other pterosaurs. Basal Pterosaurs or Tropeognathus mesembrinus reproduced by means of eggs, some fossils of which have been discovered.

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Additional information

Weight 25 lbs
Pterosaur Facts

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Ornithodira
Clade: †Pterosauromorpha
Order: †Pterosauria
Conservation Status: Extinct