Re: pterosaur femora sprawl

[jrc <jrccea@bellsouth.net>]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David Peters" <davidpeters@att.net>
To: "John Conway" <john.a.conway@gmail.com>; "Dinosaur Mailing List" 
<dinosaur@usc.edu>
Sent: Thursday, June 05, 2008 7:59 AM
Subject: Re: pterosaur femora sprawl


> True. But no pterosaurs walked, bipedally or quadrupedally, with a 
> horizontal backbone.

Quetzalcoatlus can, due to the remarkable bony support shelves at the 
shoulder and elbow that carry the weight when the elbow is raised well above 
the shoulder..  However, that doesn't mean that they did -- walking in that 
configuration requires a reversal of the normal direction of the walking 
shoulder articulation.

> All pterosaurs except "azhdarchids," ctenochasmatids, dorygnathids (that's 
> one clade) and cycnorhamphids + ornithocheirids (a second clade).

Are you saying that azhdarchids were not soarers?
JimC