Re: Masso embryos disc./back to pteros

[David Marjanovic <david.marjanovic@gmx.at>]

> And with regards to pterosaurs, I bow to Luis Chiappe who says (and 
> illustrates):
>
> "This specimen is indistinguishable from both juvenile and mature 
> specimens of
> Pterodaustro - with its long, slender snout and evidence of filament-like
> mandibular dentition."

OK. Sorry for having forgotten this specimen. It shows that *Pterodaustro 
guinazui* was not born cute. But we can't use induction. We have a 
phylogenetic bracket: the closest relatives of pterosaurs where the 
condition is known -- be they dinosaurs, archosaurs as a whole, or even 
squamates -- were/are born cute, while *P. guinazui* was not. Where within 
Pterosauria (or a somewhat larger clade) did the change happen? At which 
point was the cute phase sped up and hid in the egg? At the base of 
Pterosauria? At the base of Pterodactyloidea? At the base of 
Ctenochasmatoidea? At the base of *P. guinazui*? Elsewhere? Would be great 
to find out.