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paleopeter — Nyctosaurus gracilis.
Published: 2018-10-17 12:18:29 +0000 UTC; Views: 1300; Favourites: 47; Downloads: 0
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Description
Nyctosaurus: this is as weird as it gets, the legs may or may not be held in this position? It was proposed by one palaeontologist that it windsurfed over the water with, effectively, triple sails, its crest sail plus long wings. Other observations he made were the body was rather v shaped & the loss of its hands would facilitate the use of the wings as outriggers. However others have argued that it couldn’t fly with a crest sail of that size, plus in Mark Witton’s blog he states, some bony crests are completely smooth, and have no evidence for extensive soft-tissue elaboration. This is mainly seen in the ornithocheiroids (the group that includes taxa like Anhanguera, Pteranodon and Nyctosaurus).Name: Nyctosaurus.
Meaning of name: Night lizard.
Species: N. gracilis, N. nanus, N. lamegoi, N. bonner?
Classification: Pterosauria, Pterodactyloidea, Ornithocheiroidea, Nyctosauridae.
Time period: Santonian to Masstrichtian stages of the late Cretaceous.
Distribution: Kansas, USA & Brazil?
Wingspan: Wingspan: 2m.
