Scleromochlus and the early evolution of Pterosauromorpha

Davide Foffa (), Emma M. Dunne, Sterling J. Nesbitt, Richard J. Butler, Nicholas C. Fraser, Stephen L. Brusatte, Alexander Farnsworth, Daniel J. Lunt, Paul J. Valdes, Stig Walsh and Paul M. Barrett
Additional contact information
Davide Foffa: National Museums Scotland
Emma M. Dunne: University of Birmingham
Sterling J. Nesbitt: Virginia Tech
Richard J. Butler: University of Birmingham
Nicholas C. Fraser: National Museums Scotland
Stephen L. Brusatte: National Museums Scotland
Alexander Farnsworth: State Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Earth System, Resources and Environment (TPESRE), Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Daniel J. Lunt: University of Bristol
Paul J. Valdes: University of Bristol
Stig Walsh: National Museums Scotland
Paul M. Barrett: Natural History Museum

Nature, 2022, vol. 610, issue 7931, 313-318

Abstract: Abstract Pterosaurs, the first vertebrates to evolve powered flight, were key components of Mesozoic terrestrial ecosystems from their sudden appearance in the Late Triassic until their demise at the end of the Cretaceous1–6. However, the origin and early evolution of pterosaurs are poorly understood owing to a substantial stratigraphic and morphological gap between these reptiles and their closest relatives6, Lagerpetidae7. Scleromochlus taylori, a tiny reptile from the early Late Triassic of Scotland discovered over a century ago, was hypothesized to be a key taxon closely related to pterosaurs8, but its poor preservation has limited previous studies and resulted in controversy over its phylogenetic position, with some even doubting its identification as an archosaur9. Here we use microcomputed tomographic scans to provide the first accurate whole-skeletal reconstruction and a revised diagnosis of Scleromochlus, revealing new anatomical details that conclusively identify it as a close pterosaur relative1 within Pterosauromorpha (the lagerpetid + pterosaur clade). Scleromochlus is anatomically more similar to lagerpetids than to pterosaurs and retains numerous features that were probably present in very early diverging members of Avemetatarsalia (bird-line archosaurs). These results support the hypothesis that the first flying reptiles evolved from tiny, probably facultatively bipedal, cursorial ancestors1.

Date: 2022
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-05284-x Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:610:y:2022:i:7931:d:10.1038_s41586-022-05284-x

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-05284-x

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().