Tale of the flying reptile

Pterosaurs were the flying reptiles that existed from the late Triassic to the end of the cretaceous period (220 to 65.5 million years ago).

Since the time this blue planet became a warm-habitable rest for life, countless of species roamed this planet in such grandeur that this 3rd planet from the Sun practically became a celebration of life and all the spectacles of existence. As if one species was more spectacular than the other and the splendor of this is still being discovered and re-discovered today. And the most recent of which is the finding that Pterosaurs, the ancient flying reptiles from the Jurassic time, were not driven to extinction by birds, as previously thought. In fact, according to the latest information, the ancient "winged lizard" continued to thrive and diversify for millions of years afterwards the arrival of birds, by eating seeds instead of meat which practically cost them their teeth!
Published in the July 6th edition of the Journal of Systematic Paleontology, researcher Katy Prentice of University of Bristol, in her study, revealed that the mighty pterosaurs evolved in a most unusual way, which made them more and more particular through their 160 million years of reign here on Earth. But before getting into details, few words in the honor of pterosaurs are in order. To be simple, Pterosaurs were the flying reptiles that existed from the late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous Period (220 to 65.5 million years ago) and they remain the earliest vertebrates (species with backbones) known to have evolved to master the art of flight. And much like their cousins the dinosaurs, pterosaurs stand out as one of evolution's great success stories and since they were uncontested in the air. Also, pterosaurs populated in all continents and evolved into a vast array of shapes and sizes. And with more than 120 named species, the smallest pterosaur measured no bigger than a sparrow; the largest reached a wingspan of nearly 40 feet (12 meters), wider than an F-16 fighter.
This recent work from the University of Bristol states that pterosaurs remained conventional for 70 million years, and then started to experiment with all kinds of new modes of life. This conclusion came after Prentice and her colleagues studied 50 different pterosaur species ranging from the giraffe-sized Quetzalcoatlus, which had a wingspan of 39 feet (12 meters) to a pterosaur, sizing to that of a blackbird. And these ancient creatures strolled across ancient grasslands preying on small dinosaurs as snacks just as a modern-day crane might target frogs and toads. This finding also tells that the pterosaurs became three times as diverse 125 million years ago than they were before birds evolved and were not pushed to extinction, as suggested, by earlier studies. It must be mentioned here that the birds, based on fossil and biological evidence, are a specialized subgroup of theropod dinosaurs. And according to this recent study, the pterosaurs responded to the new flyers by becoming larger and trying out new lifestyles and many of the new lifestyle adaptations were seen in the pterosaurs skulls, as they adapted to feed on different food sources. Some became seed-eaters, many ate fish, and later ones even lost their teeth, as discussed earlier. It was also found that the rest of the body also showed a surprising amount of variation between different groups, when considering that the body forms have to retain many features to allow flight.
In the words of Katy Prentice, "Usually, when a new group of animals or plants evolves, they quickly try out all the options. Pterosaurs were the first flying animals -- they appeared on Earth 50 million years before Archaeopteryx, the first bird -- and they were good at what they did. But the amazing thing is that they didn't really begin to evolve until after the birds had appeared." In the ancient of times the two groups divided up the aerial eco-space between them and continue to co-exist by avoiding any sort of conflicts. It is believed that the reign of Pterosaurs departed some 65 million years during the mass extinction that killed the dinosaurs.

The contiributor is a freelance science writer.