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Greg Paul’s iconic flying Quetzalcoatlus illustration: time for a revision

Thursday, February 22, 2024 14:30

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According to Wikipedia,
“The fact that he [Greg Paul] worked closely with paleontologists, did his own independent paleontological research and created a series of skeletal restorations of all sufficiently known dinosaurs, lead many to regard his images as a sort of scientific standard to be followed. This tendency is stimulated by his habit of constantly redrawing older work to let it reflect the latest finds and theories.”

Which brings us to Paul’s iconic flying Quetzalcoatlus illustration (Fig 1).

Figure 1. Greg Paul’s Quetzalcoatlus flying in formation illustration. Frames 2–4 show the skeleton from the Q memoire. Compare to figure 2. ” data-image-caption=”

Figure 1. Greg Paul’s Quetzalcoatlus flying in formation illustration. Frames 2–4 show the skeleton from the Q memoire. Compare to figure 2.

” data-medium-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.files.wordpress.com/2024/01/g.paul_.quetzalcoatlus72.gif?w=300″ data-large-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.files.wordpress.com/2024/01/g.paul_.quetzalcoatlus72.gif?w=584″ class=”size-full wp-image-84463″ src=”https://pterosaurheresies.files.wordpress.com/2024/01/g.paul_.quetzalcoatlus72.gif” alt=”Figure 1. Greg Paul’s Quetzalcoatlus flying in formation illustration. Frames 2–4 show the skeleton from the Q memoire. Compare to figure 2. ” width=”584″ height=”456″ srcset=”https://pterosaurheresies.files.wordpress.com/2024/01/g.paul_.quetzalcoatlus72.gif?w=584&h=456 584w, https://pterosaurheresies.files.wordpress.com/2024/01/g.paul_.quetzalcoatlus72.gif?w=150&h=117 150w, https://pterosaurheresies.files.wordpress.com/2024/01/g.paul_.quetzalcoatlus72.gif?w=300&h=234 300w, https://pterosaurheresies.files.wordpress.com/2024/01/g.paul_.quetzalcoatlus72.gif 688w” sizes=”(max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px” />

Figure 1. Greg Paul’s Quetzalcoatlus flying in formation illustration. Frames 2–4 show the skeleton from the Q memoire. Compare to figure 2.

It’s time for a revision.
Paul’s illustration was done around the time of Paul MacCready’s famous powered flying model of Quetzalcoatlus (ca. 1985), which only became airborne by shifting proportions (Fig 2), to make it more like Pteranodon, a volant pterosaur.

Q was able to become a giant
because it was flightless at an earlier, much smaller size, as the biggest living birds demonstrate. When reconstructed without guesswork or error, the wings were too short for such a large body. Click here for details on that hypothesis.

Everyone was guessing what Q looked like for decades.
The long-anticipated Quetzalcoatlus monograph detailing everything known about the genus (Andres and Langston 2021) was not published until 2021, 36 years later.

Figure 6. Paul MacCready’s flying pterosaur model had longer wings than Q. sp., with its vestigial distal wing phalanges. Here the model and its inspiration are shown to the same length. ” data-image-caption=”

Figure 6. Paul MacCready’s flying pterosaur model had longer wings than Q. sp., with its vestigial distal wing phalanges. Here the model and its inspiration are shown to the same length.

” data-medium-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.files.wordpress.com/2020/04/macready_q_pterosaur_inflight588.gif?w=300″ data-large-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.files.wordpress.com/2020/04/macready_q_pterosaur_inflight588.gif?w=584″ class=”size-full wp-image-44145″ src=”https://pterosaurheresies.files.wordpress.com/2020/04/macready_q_pterosaur_inflight588.gif” alt=”Figure 6. Paul MacCready’s flying pterosaur model had longer wings than Q. sp., with its vestigial distal wing phalanges. Here the model and its inspiration are shown to the same length.” width=”584″ height=”501″ srcset=”https://pterosaurheresies.files.wordpress.com/2020/04/macready_q_pterosaur_inflight588.gif?w=584&h=501 584w, https://pterosaurheresies.files.wordpress.com/2020/04/macready_q_pterosaur_inflight588.gif?w=150&h=129 150w, https://pterosaurheresies.files.wordpress.com/2020/04/macready_q_pterosaur_inflight588.gif?w=300&h=257 300w, https://pterosaurheresies.files.wordpress.com/2020/04/macready_q_pterosaur_inflight588.gif 588w” sizes=”(max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px” />

Figure 2. Paul MacCready’s flying pterosaur model had longer wings than Q. sp., with its vestigial distal wing phalanges. Here the model and its inspiration are shown to the same length.

Getting back to the Wikipedia quote:
“his habit of constantly redrawing older work to let it reflect the latest finds and theories.”

Everyone loves Paul’s flying Quetzalcoatlus illustration
(Fig 1) as is. It’s gorgeous and we grew up with it. Unfortuntaely, the proportions are now shown and known to be in error. It’s time for ‘redrawing older work.’

Perhaps a non-volant Q next time.
Greg: Don’t paint over the original! It reflects the best thinking of its time.

References
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.
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
Paul GS 2022. The Princeton Field Guide to Pterosaurs. Princeton Field Guides. Online.
Popular Science article on Quetzalcoatlus model
Zittel KA 1882. Über Flugsaurier aus dem lithographischen Schiefer Bayerns. Palaeontographica 29: 7-80.

Flying Pterosaur Model of Paul MacCready online pdf

wiki/Gregory_S._Paul
wiki/Paul_MacCready

Evidence for a flightless Quetzalcoatlus northropi

Long-awaited Quetzalcoatlus memoir published

Pterosaur ornithopters: lessons learned

Source: https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/2024/02/23/greg-pauls-iconic-flying-quetzalcoatlus-illustration-time-for-a-revision/

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