Abstract Season 2026 begins in Hami City, China

The 10th International Pterosaur Conference
was held from September 11th to 14th, 2026, in Hami City, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China. 22 abstracts were published. I will list them all, and review most, while skipping over bone histology, bite force, brain and inner-ear topics.

Hope that’s okay with you.

I attended the first few three conferences,
until 2010 in Beijing. I stopped going because no one wanted to include more taxa in analysis – you know, that thing I keep harping on – where all the discoveries were being overlooked by academics disinterested in the basics = what is what and how interrelated they ALL are to each other.

Thanks to reader, Stu, for providing the abstract PDF.

1. Reassessment of Darwinopterus… Nakamura et al – these authors are still follow the tradition of a single clade ‘Pterodactyloidea’ – which was debunked in 2007 and supported by the large pterosaur tree (LPT, 268 taxa) where five Darwinopterus specimens are tested and all nest together. They also are more keen on ‘Pulling a Larry Martin‘ rather than running an analysis.
2. ...Evolutionary trends of tapejards from… China. Zhang et al were worried that ontogenetic variation, sexual dimorphism and individual differences would influence evolutionary relationships. Evidently they feared building their own LPT and used other largely useless methods like principal component analysis.
3. New anhanguerid pterosaur…China… Wang et al reported on JLUE V 31002, known from the larger elements around one wing and pectoral girdle.
4. Evolution of Nyctosaurus: digit loss and neotony. SC Bennett (a sole author!) described two results after examining ‘all available specimens’. He did not give the total number of specimens in his study. Bennett reported none preserved manual digits 1–3. I found them. They are all small. Sorry he did not. He also reported the loss of the distal wing phalanx on several specimens, confirming what was reported here in 2024. See below. Bennett buys into the fingers used for ‘launching into flight’ myth and evidently misunderstands it because the free fingers have nothing to do with the quad-launch. Bennett reports ‘no pterosaur exhibits [gradual] reduction’ – except Nyctosaurus. He then discusses ‘mutant offspring’. He sought ‘an improved understanding of nyctosaurid systematics’ – as offered by the LPT. There is no mention of Muzquizopteryx, the basalmost nyctosaur in the LPT.
5. Reassessment of Dsungaripterus… bite force. Zhou and Chen.
6. …new azhdarchoidea pterosaur from the Kem Kem… Martînez-Barredo et al report on a ‘straight jaw fragment’ and still believe in the debunked clade ‘azhdarchoidea = tapejarids + azhdarchids’.
7. …reseach on pterosaur necks. Buchmann and Rodrigues ‘reconstructed vertebrae, ligaments, cartilage and muscles.’
8. …tooth morphology and histology of Istiodactyliformes. Xu, Jiang and Wang.
9. Ornithocheiriform pterosaur teeth …. from Mongolia. Fernandes, Goldberg and Norell.
10. A new phylogeny reveals macroevolutionary patterns in Pterosauria. Song, Jiang and Wang prepared ‘a novel data matrix’ with ‘more than 200 new characters’. They did not recover anything radical, but stuck to the academic textbook. There is no indication that tiny Late Jurassic pterosaurs or multiple specimens of Early Jurassic genera were included. Every one of them is important in the LPT.
11. …neurovascuar anatomy of Caiuajara… Araújo et al.
12. …pneumaticity in Caiuajara… Izído et al.
13. A four-year-old pterosaur from China… Jiang et al presented ‘a postcranial skeleton of a ctenochasmatid pterosaur (IVPP V12693). That’s a Sinoppterus dongi specimen, a tapejarid. Maybe they were off by a digit or two with their museum number. They used bone histology.
14. Does Osteohistology accurately reflect skeletal maturity?… Bantim et al
15. Unsolved mysteries of the first vertebrate wing. Jagielska et al found evidence for the ‘long-speculated retrophalangeal wedge’ = thicker tissue forming a ‘morphologically unique’ transitional zone from wing bone to wing membrane = otherwise known as the typical muscles, tendons and ligaments found in all tetrapod forelimbs ‘that facilitated wing folding.’ Strangely, no mention was made of the number one issue: deep chord to the ankles vs shallow chord to the elbows. Hmm.
16. …finite element modeling of pterosaur wing membranes… Wang et al looked at wing microstructure in Jeholopterus ( stiff fiber-reinforced) and Sinopterus (compliant pigment-based). Pigment-based??
17. …underexplored terrestrial capabilities of flying reptiles. Costa, Francisco and Nunes reviewed the literature (636 papers from which 320 were selected) then clustered the literature to see what was trending when. Oh, boy…
18. …morphospace of vertebrate wings… Walters, Rayfield and Donoghue asked ‘is morphology predictable or sporadic?’ They plotted morphospace to find out.
19. …first record of pterosaur tracks in Turpan-Hami Basin… Li, Jiang and Wang they attribute to Hamipterus with an ‘exceptionally deep robust and deep impression of pedal digit 4.’ Since all Hamipterus skeletons are scattered, I have not been able to put together a foot skeleton – but it should be close to the related taxon in the LPT, Darwinopterus. The authors conclude their trackmaker was speedy, making adjustments along lake shores as they foraged.
20. The invisible fish… Ding, Jiang and Wang also looked at the Hamipterus site, noting a complete absence of fish relieved by the trace fossil, Osculichnus (= bilobate mounds, mouth impression feeding trace) known from the Devonian. Wow. That’s one way to enter an abstract into a pterosaur convention.
21. Evaluation of anti-weathering consolidates for the surround rock of Hamipterus fossils. Dai et al. note ‘the severe weathering issues of ex situ-preserved Hamipterus fossils,’ then tested the matrix chemistry. Wow. That’s another way to enter an abstract into a pterosaur convention. After all, Hami Vity is their home town!
22. Over two decades of Sino-Brazilian collaboration in pterosaur research. Kellner (the other sole author) noted the longstanding invitation of the IVPP to Brazilian researchers focusing on the wukongopterids and Hamipterus and the first instance of ?herbivory in tapejarid pterosaurs. See below for links to these topics.

In conclusion,
it’s expensive and time-consuming to fly over Siberia to go to China from Chicago, spend several days in a hotel and come back home with little more than can be gained from the above abstract list. The first time in Beijing was wonderful. So much to see! I found out there was little to be gained or shared as time went on.

After all, at pterosaur conferences I am still considered box-office poison, = a persistent irritant, = an outsider = a paradigm buster – just for encouraging academics to make accurate tracings and include as many more or less complete taxa as possible in analysis = the scientific method. I am so glad I study pterosaurs as an independent, unpaid and without stress.

These abstracts gave me the ‘fly on the wall’ experience without the lost week among strangers more interested in invisible fish and morphospace. Your thoughts?

The annual SVP abstracts should be appearing the week after the convention.

References