A new darwinopteran pterosaur reveals arborealism and an opposed thumb

Xuanyu Zhou; Rodrigo V. Pêgas; Waisum Ma; Gang Han; Xingsheng Jin; Maria E.C. Leal; Niels Bonde; Yoshitsugu Kobayashi; Stephan Lautenschlager; Xuefang Wei; Caizhi Shen; Shu'an Ji

doi:10.1016/j.cub.2021.03.030

A new darwinopteran pterosaur reveals arborealism and an opposed thumb

Xuanyu Zhou^*, Rodrigo V. Pêgas, Waisum Ma, Gang Han, Xingsheng Jin, Maria E.C. Leal, Niels Bonde, Yoshitsugu Kobayashi, Stephan Lautenschlager, Xuefang Wei, Caizhi Shen, Shu'an Ji

^*Corresponding author af dette arbejde

Institut for Biomedicin - Forskning og uddannelse, Vest

Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskrift/Konferencebidrag i tidsskrift /Bidrag til avis › Tidsskriftartikel › Forskning › peer review

18 Citationer (Scopus)

Abstract

Pterosaurs, which lived during the Mesozoic, were the first known vertebrates to evolve powered flight.¹^,² Arboreal locomotion has been proposed for some taxa,³^,⁴ and even considered to have played a role in the origin of pterosaur flight.⁵^,⁶ Even so, there is still need for comprehensive quantitative ecomorphological analyses.³^,⁴ Furthermore, skeletal adaptations correlated to specialized lifestyles are often difficult to recognize and interpret in fossils. Here we report on a new darwinopteran pterosaur that inhabited a unique forest ecosystem from the Jurassic of China. The new species exhibits the oldest record of palmar (or true) opposition of the pollex, which is unprecedented for pterosaurs and represents a sophisticated adaptation related to arboreal locomotion. Principal-coordinate analyses suggest an arboreal lifestyle for the new species but not for other closely related species from the same locality, implying a possible case of ecological niche partitioning. The discovery adds to the known array of pterosaur adaptations and the history of arborealism in vertebrates. It also adds to the impressive early bloom of arboreal communities in the Jurassic of China, shedding light on the history of forest environments.

Originalsprog	Engelsk
Tidsskrift	Current Biology
Vol/bind	31
Nummer	11
Sider (fra-til)	2429-2436.e7
ISSN	0960-9822
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2021.03.030
Status	Udgivet - jun. 2021

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title = "A new darwinopteran pterosaur reveals arborealism and an opposed thumb",

abstract = "Pterosaurs, which lived during the Mesozoic, were the first known vertebrates to evolve powered flight.1,2 Arboreal locomotion has been proposed for some taxa,3,4 and even considered to have played a role in the origin of pterosaur flight.5,6 Even so, there is still need for comprehensive quantitative ecomorphological analyses.3,4 Furthermore, skeletal adaptations correlated to specialized lifestyles are often difficult to recognize and interpret in fossils. Here we report on a new darwinopteran pterosaur that inhabited a unique forest ecosystem from the Jurassic of China. The new species exhibits the oldest record of palmar (or true) opposition of the pollex, which is unprecedented for pterosaurs and represents a sophisticated adaptation related to arboreal locomotion. Principal-coordinate analyses suggest an arboreal lifestyle for the new species but not for other closely related species from the same locality, implying a possible case of ecological niche partitioning. The discovery adds to the known array of pterosaur adaptations and the history of arborealism in vertebrates. It also adds to the impressive early bloom of arboreal communities in the Jurassic of China, shedding light on the history of forest environments.",

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AU - Zhou, Xuanyu

AU - Pêgas, Rodrigo V.

AU - Ma, Waisum

AU - Han, Gang

AU - Jin, Xingsheng

AU - Leal, Maria E.C.

AU - Bonde, Niels

AU - Kobayashi, Yoshitsugu

AU - Lautenschlager, Stephan

AU - Wei, Xuefang

AU - Shen, Caizhi

AU - Ji, Shu'an

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N2 - Pterosaurs, which lived during the Mesozoic, were the first known vertebrates to evolve powered flight.1,2 Arboreal locomotion has been proposed for some taxa,3,4 and even considered to have played a role in the origin of pterosaur flight.5,6 Even so, there is still need for comprehensive quantitative ecomorphological analyses.3,4 Furthermore, skeletal adaptations correlated to specialized lifestyles are often difficult to recognize and interpret in fossils. Here we report on a new darwinopteran pterosaur that inhabited a unique forest ecosystem from the Jurassic of China. The new species exhibits the oldest record of palmar (or true) opposition of the pollex, which is unprecedented for pterosaurs and represents a sophisticated adaptation related to arboreal locomotion. Principal-coordinate analyses suggest an arboreal lifestyle for the new species but not for other closely related species from the same locality, implying a possible case of ecological niche partitioning. The discovery adds to the known array of pterosaur adaptations and the history of arborealism in vertebrates. It also adds to the impressive early bloom of arboreal communities in the Jurassic of China, shedding light on the history of forest environments.

AB - Pterosaurs, which lived during the Mesozoic, were the first known vertebrates to evolve powered flight.1,2 Arboreal locomotion has been proposed for some taxa,3,4 and even considered to have played a role in the origin of pterosaur flight.5,6 Even so, there is still need for comprehensive quantitative ecomorphological analyses.3,4 Furthermore, skeletal adaptations correlated to specialized lifestyles are often difficult to recognize and interpret in fossils. Here we report on a new darwinopteran pterosaur that inhabited a unique forest ecosystem from the Jurassic of China. The new species exhibits the oldest record of palmar (or true) opposition of the pollex, which is unprecedented for pterosaurs and represents a sophisticated adaptation related to arboreal locomotion. Principal-coordinate analyses suggest an arboreal lifestyle for the new species but not for other closely related species from the same locality, implying a possible case of ecological niche partitioning. The discovery adds to the known array of pterosaur adaptations and the history of arborealism in vertebrates. It also adds to the impressive early bloom of arboreal communities in the Jurassic of China, shedding light on the history of forest environments.

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KW - functional morphology

KW - Mesozoic

KW - niche partitioning

KW - opposed thumb

KW - Pterosauria

KW - vertebrate evolution

KW - Wukongopteridae

KW - Yanliao Biota

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A new darwinopteran pterosaur reveals arborealism and an opposed thumb

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