A study published in the journal eLife unveiled new insights into the flight mechanisms of the first pterosaurs, shedding light on how these ancient reptiles took to the skies during the age of dinosaurs. Researchers discovered that early pterosaurs, commonly known as pterodactyls, took flight thanks to a sail-like tensioning system in their tails.
The vanes on early pterosaur tails were supported by criss-crossing fibers and tube-like structures, providing stability and direction during flight. these tail vanes functioned much like a ship’s sail, becoming tense when wind passed through them and enabling the creatures to steer effectively. This tensioning system not only supported flight but also likely played a role in displays, such as mate attraction.
To uncover these intricate details, researchers used high-powered lasers to study skin and other soft tissues preserved in pterosaur tail fossils. Live Science explained that this technique, known as Laser Stimulated Fluorescence (LSF), caused the delicate membranes and internal structures of the tail vane to become vividly visible under laser light. The researchers applied LSF to these vanes, creating maps of their internal structures and revealing features that had remained unseen for millions of years.
Dr. Natalia Jagielska, the lead author and PhD graduate from the University of Edinburgh, expressed her astonishment at the findings. "It never ceases to astound me that, despite hundreds of millions of years, we can still reconstruct the skin of animals we’ll never see in our lifetimes," she said, according to Geek Ireland. "Reconstructing such details from fossils millions of years old remains remarkable," remarked Jagielska, now curator at Lyme Regis Museum.
The study was conducted by a team of paleontologists from the University of Edinburgh and the Chinese University of Hong Kong. They collected pterosaur fossils held in museums such as the Natural History Museum in London and the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. By applying laser technology, the team uncovered that the secret of pterosaur flight lay in the lattice-like vanes attached to their elongated tails.
The pterosaurs studied by the team belonged to the species Rhamphorhynchus, which soared above the lagoons of Jurassic Central Europe almost 150 million years ago. Rhamphorhynchus had a long tail with a kite-shaped tail vane filled with intersecting structures resembling ribs and spars in an airplane wing, supporting a tensioning system. In their teenage years, the tail vane of Rhamphorhynchus took a kite-like shape, while in adulthood, it resembled a triangular heart.
Previous studies had emphasized the importance of maintaining stiffness in the tail vane for early pterosaur flight, but the mechanism behind this stiffness had remained unclear until now. Paleontologists knew the vane was stiff but didn't know how it maintained stiffness until this study. "I think it is an innovative study," Dave Martill, a pterosaur researcher and emeritus professor at the University of Portsmouth who was not involved in the study, praised the told Live Science in an email.
Pterosaurs were the first vertebrates to achieve powered flight, emerging with long tails towards the end of the Triassic Period, approximately 225 million years ago. Over time, their tails got smaller, with notable reductions occurring by the Jurassic era. Most flying vertebrates evolved shorter bony tails as they took to the skies, likely improving their mobility in the air and helping the group diversify. By the time pterosaurs went extinct alongside dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous period, their tails were almost gone.
This article was written in collaboration with generative AI company Alchemiq