An artist’s impression of the hatchling pterosaurs. Credit: Megan Jacobs
Phys.org had a story about pterosaus during the Cretaceous. A new study looked at competition between birds and pterosaurs and found the babies of the largest pterosaurs out-competed the adults of smaller species. Previously, it was thought that birds had out-competed the smaller species. The paper appeared in the journal Cretaceous Research.
New research has found that it was the babies of giant pterosaurs—known as flaplings—who overshadowed their small adult rivals.
The newly hatched juveniles of large and gigantic pterosaurs likely outcompeted other smaller adult pterosaur species to dominate the Late Cretaceous period around 100 million years ago, a new study led by researchers from the University of Portsmouth has found.
Pterosaurs were the flying cousins of dinosaurs—some were as large as a Spitfire fighter plane and others as small as a thrush.
During the Triassic and Jurassic periods, 252–145 million years ago, pterosaurs reached only modest sizes, but by the Late Cretaceous period many were giants—some with a wingspan of 10 meters or more.
It had been previously thought that the smaller species of pterosaurs were outcompeted by newly evolving birds, but this research has found that it was actually the babies of giant pterosaurs—known as flaplings—who overshadowed their small adult rivals.
Lead author, Roy Smith, from the University of Portsmouth's School of the Environment, Geography and Geosciences, worked on the study with scientists from Africa and the UK. The international team comprised of experts from the universities of Cape Town, Leicester, Portsmouth and Casablanca.
