Pterosaur flight

Powered flight by pterosaurs, produced through repeated wing strokes and aerodynamic lift. It relied on wings formed by a membrane stretched mainly between the elongated fourth finger and the body.

Pterosaur wing: A membranous flight surface supported chiefly by the pterosaur’s elongated fourth finger and extending toward the body and hindlimbs. Its membrane and skeletal supports formed the lifting surface used in powered flight.
Pterosaur: An extinct group of flying reptiles that lived from the Late Triassic until the end of the Cretaceous. Pterosaurs were the animals whose anatomy and behavior enabled this form of flight.
Quetzalcoatlus: A giant azhdarchid pterosaur from the Late Cretaceous of North America. Its immense estimated size makes its launch and flight performance especially informative.
Pterosaur paleobiology: The study of pterosaur biology, behavior, ecology, and evolution from fossil evidence. Flight mechanics are one part of reconstructing how pterosaurs lived.
Pterosaur quadrupedal launch: A proposed launch method in which a pterosaur pushed off the ground using all four limbs. Powerful forelimbs may have helped large pterosaurs become airborne without a running start.
Wing membrane: A thin, flexible tissue surface that generates aerodynamic forces when moving through air. The pterosaur wing was a membrane rather than a feathered surface.
Rhamphorhynchus: A long-tailed pterosaur genus from the Late Jurassic of Europe. Its fossils preserve a comparatively complete view of a small pterosaur’s wing anatomy.
Pterosaur soft tissue: Preserved non-bony pterosaur structures, including membranes, fibers, and internal tissues. Soft-tissue fossils constrain reconstructions of wing shape and stiffness.
Wing loading: The ratio of an animal’s weight to its wing area, influencing its speed and minimum flight velocity. It helps explain how body size and wing area shaped pterosaur flight performance.
Aerodynamic lift: The component of aerodynamic force perpendicular to an object’s motion through air. Lift counteracted gravity during pterosaur flight.

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