Lagerpetids and early pterosaurs Triassic palaeobiogeography and climate preferences (free pdf)
56 views
Skip to first unread message
Ben Creisler
Jun 18, 2025, 12:24:04 PMJun 18
to DinosaurMa...@googlegroups.com
Ben Creisler
A new paper:
****
News:
Early pterosaur fossils are hard to find – and we might now know why
*
First ancient flying reptiles were winners of increasing Triassic humid environments
Free pdf:
Davide Foffa, Emma M. Dunne, Alfio Alessandro Chiarenza, Brenen M. Wynd, Alexander Farnsworth, Daniel J. Lunt, Paul J. Valdes, Sterling J. Nesbitt, Ben T. Kligman, Adam D. Marsh, William G. Parker, Richard J. Butler, Nicholas C. Fraser, Stephen L. Brusatte & Paul M. Barrett (2025)
Climate drivers and palaeobiogeography of lagerpetids and early pterosaurs
Nature Ecology & Evolution (advance online publication)
doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-025-02767-8
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-025-02767-8
The origin of pterosaurs, the first vertebrates to achieve powered flight, is poorly understood, owing to the temporal and morphological gaps that separate them from their closest non-flying relatives, the lagerpetids. Although both groups coexisted during the Late Triassic, their limited sympatry is currently unexplained, indicating that ecological partitioning, potentially linked to palaeoclimate, influenced their early evolution. Here we analysed pterosauromorph (pterosaur + lagerpetid) palaeobiogeography using phylogeny-based probabilistic methods and integrating fossil occurrences with palaeoclimate data. Our results reveal distinct climatic preferences and dispersal histories: lagerpetids tolerated a broader range of conditions, including arid belts, enabling a widespread distribution from the Middle to early Late Triassic. Conversely, pterosaurs preferred wetter environments, resulting in a patchier geographical distribution that expanded only as humidity increased in the Late Triassic, probably following the Carnian Pluvial Event. This major environmental disturbance, potentially driven by changes in CO2-related thermal constraints and/or palaeogeography, appears to have had a key role in shaping early pterosauromorph evolution by promoting spatial segregation and distinct climatic niche occupation.
Climate drivers and palaeobiogeography of lagerpetids and early pterosaurs
Nature Ecology & Evolution (advance online publication)
doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-025-02767-8
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-025-02767-8
The origin of pterosaurs, the first vertebrates to achieve powered flight, is poorly understood, owing to the temporal and morphological gaps that separate them from their closest non-flying relatives, the lagerpetids. Although both groups coexisted during the Late Triassic, their limited sympatry is currently unexplained, indicating that ecological partitioning, potentially linked to palaeoclimate, influenced their early evolution. Here we analysed pterosauromorph (pterosaur + lagerpetid) palaeobiogeography using phylogeny-based probabilistic methods and integrating fossil occurrences with palaeoclimate data. Our results reveal distinct climatic preferences and dispersal histories: lagerpetids tolerated a broader range of conditions, including arid belts, enabling a widespread distribution from the Middle to early Late Triassic. Conversely, pterosaurs preferred wetter environments, resulting in a patchier geographical distribution that expanded only as humidity increased in the Late Triassic, probably following the Carnian Pluvial Event. This major environmental disturbance, potentially driven by changes in CO2-related thermal constraints and/or palaeogeography, appears to have had a key role in shaping early pterosauromorph evolution by promoting spatial segregation and distinct climatic niche occupation.
****
News:
Early pterosaur fossils are hard to find – and we might now know why
*
First ancient flying reptiles were winners of increasing Triassic humid environments
Ben Creisler
Jun 18, 2025, 3:39:23 PMJun 18
to DinosaurMa...@googlegroups.com
An additional news item:
How pterosaurs learned to fly: scientists have been looking in the wrong place to solve this mystery (Davide Foffa, Alfio Alessandro, Chiarenza Emma Dunne)
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages