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prettygoodwordOkay, moving out of the oceans, there are other non-dino -saurs -- including up in the air:
pterosaur (TER--uh-sawr) - n., any of various extinct flying reptiles (order Pterosauria) having a greatly elongated fourth finger supporting a featherless wing membrane.
The first flying vertebrates. Pterodactyls and pteranodons are the best-known, but there were many others. They first evolved in the late Triassic around 228 million years ago from an unidentified ancestor -- though they are probably more closely related to dinosaurs and birds than any other reptiles. They survived until the Cretaceous extinction, at which point almost all species were very large -- the smaller ones apparently having been out-competed by feathered birds. And no, birds are not descended from them -- for one thing, their wings are created from an elongated second finger, not fourth. A lot of popular depictions of pterosaurs (especially children's toys) are inaccurate, having features taken from several different types such as Pteranodon's crest and Rhamphorhynchus's long tail and teeth. Pteranodon longiceps is the type species for that genus:
Thanks, WikiMedia!
The name was coined in the 1860s from Greek roots pterón, wing (or feather) + saûros, lizard.
---L.
pterosaur (TER--uh-sawr) - n., any of various extinct flying reptiles (order Pterosauria) having a greatly elongated fourth finger supporting a featherless wing membrane.
The first flying vertebrates. Pterodactyls and pteranodons are the best-known, but there were many others. They first evolved in the late Triassic around 228 million years ago from an unidentified ancestor -- though they are probably more closely related to dinosaurs and birds than any other reptiles. They survived until the Cretaceous extinction, at which point almost all species were very large -- the smaller ones apparently having been out-competed by feathered birds. And no, birds are not descended from them -- for one thing, their wings are created from an elongated second finger, not fourth. A lot of popular depictions of pterosaurs (especially children's toys) are inaccurate, having features taken from several different types such as Pteranodon's crest and Rhamphorhynchus's long tail and teeth. Pteranodon longiceps is the type species for that genus:
Thanks, WikiMedia!
The name was coined in the 1860s from Greek roots pterón, wing (or feather) + saûros, lizard.
---L.
