Long-awaited Quetzalcoatlus memoir published

For only the 41st time
the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology published a memoir (= several papers on the same topic bound in a single volume), this time devoted to the newly named azhdarchid, Quetzalcoatlus lawsoni (Figs. 1, 2). This work has been eagerly anticipated for… a few decades.

Publicity continues:
“However, science has not kept up with the pterosaur’s popular image. Aside from Lawson’s early descriptions of the fossils, almost no scientific research has been published based on direct study of the bones.”

Don’t forget Kellner and Langston 1996. That was 25 years ago.

“The biomechanics research was led by Kevin Padian, an emeritus professor and emeritus curator at the University of California, Berkeley, and co-editor of the research collection. “Pterosaurs have huge breastbones, which is where the flight muscles attach, so there is no doubt that they were terrific flyers,” he said.”

“No doubt’? ‘Terrific’? The cassowary has a larger sternum than Quetzalcoatlus (Fig. 1).
So does the penguin. by a long shot. Readers, don’t be like Kevin Padian.
Get your facts straight before you talk to the press. Become unassailable.

“The two Quetzalcoatlus species both called Big Bend home about 70 million years ago, when the region was an evergreen forest instead of the desert of today. But each led a distinct lifestyle, according to Thomas Lehman, who started his research as a doctoral student at the Jackson School and is now a professor at Texas Tech University. By examining the geological context in which the fossils were found, Lehman determined that the larger Quetzalcoatlus might have lived like today’s herons, hunting alone in rivers and streams. The smaller species, in contrast, appeared to flock together in lakes – either year-round or seasonally to mate – with at least 30 individuals found at a single fossil site.”

This is something that was known from the start. In the meantime, some workers reported azhdarchids were dinosaur swallowers. I wonder how they’ll swallow this latest bit of confirmation for the original hypothesis?

Flightlessness in pterosaurs
has been known for many years, but referees have been keeping out of publication a flightless, nameless pre-azhdarchid pterosaur, JME-SOS 2428. Both scientifically and on a gut reaction, flight is hard to accept in Quetzalcoatlus based on its short wings, small sternum, odd proportions and great size. All this changes and becomes acceptable when it comes time to show Q off in museums (Fig. 6) and I-max movies.

What would pterosaurs do with their wings if they could not fly?
If you’re wondering… here (Fig. 9) is how Quetzalcoatlus could have used its wings for added thrust while running bipedally and never taking flight (except for the kind of exceptional flapping hop parakeets with clipped wings can still do). Flapping wings scare away predators and attract mates, perhaps permitting mating. They say it can be difficult to stay balanced while standing on your girlfriend’s back trying to make babies without flapping a little.

References
Andres 2021. Phylogenetic systematics of Quetzalcoatlus Lawson 1975 (Pterodactyloidea:
Azhdarchoidea); pp. 203–217 in K. Padian and M. A. Brown (eds.), The Late Cretaceous pterosaur Quetzalcoatlus Lawson 1975 (Pterodactyloidea: Azhdarchoidea). Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Memoir 19. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 41(2, Supplement). DOI: 10.1080/02724634.2020.1801703.
Andres B and Langston W Jr 2021. Morphology and taxonomy of Quetzalcoatlus Lawson 1975 (Pterodactyloidea: Azhdarchoidea). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology Memoir 19 41(2):46–202.
Bennett SC 2001. The osteology and functional morphology of the Late Cretaceous pterosaur Pteranodon. Part I. General description of osteology. Palaeontographica, Abteilung A 260:1–112.
Elgin RA, Hone DWE and Frey E 2011. The extent of the pterosaur flight membrane. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 56 (1), 2011: 99-111. doi: 10.4202/app.2009.0145
Kellner AWA and Langston W 1996. Cranial remains of Quetzalcoatlus (Pterosauria, Azhdarchidae) from late Cretaceous sediments of Big Bend National Park, Texas. – Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 16: 222–231.
Kellner AWA, Weinschütz LC, Holgado B, Bantim RAM and Sayão JM 2019. A new toothless pterosaur (Pterodactyloidea) from Southern Brazil with insights into the paleoecology of a Cretaceous desert. Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciencias 91: e20190768. DOI 10.1590/0001-3765201920190768
Lawson DA 1975. Pterosaur from the latest Cretaceous of West Texas: discovery of the largest flying creature. Science 187: 947-948.
Padian K, Cunningham JR, Langston W Jr and Conway J 2021. Functional morphology of Quetzalcoatlus Lawson 1975 (Pterodactyloidea: Azhdarchoidea). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 41:sup1, 218-251, DOI: 10.1080/02724634.2020.1780247
Peters D 2000. A Redescription of Four Prolacertiform Genera and Implications for Pterosaur Phylogenesis. Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia 106 (3): 293–336.
Peters D 2002. A New Model for the Evolution of the Pterosaur Wing – with a twist. Historical Biology 15: 277–301.
Peters D 2009. A reinterpretation of pteroid articulation in pterosaurs. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 29:1327-1330.
Schaller D 2007. The superordinate pterosaur evolution as deduced from the evolution of their wings. On the occasion of The Wellnhofer Pterosaur Meeting 2007. Verlag Dr. Friedrich Pfeil, München, August 2007.
Zittel KA 1882. Über Flugsaurier aus dem lithographischen Schiefer Bayerns. Palaeontographica 29: 7-80.

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