Enigmatic dinosaur precursors bridge the gap to the origin of Pterosauria

Ezcurra, Martín D.; Nesbitt, Sterling J.; Bronzati, Mario; Vecchia, Fabio Marco Dalla; Agnolin, Federico L.; Benson, Roger B. J.; Egli, Federico Brissón; Cabreira, Sergio F.; Evers, Serjoscha W.; Gentil, Adriel R.; Irmis, Randall B.; Martinelli, Agustín G.; Novas, Fernando E.; Silva, Lúcio Roberto da; Smith, Nathan D.; Stocker, Michelle R.; Turner, Alan H.; Langer, Max C.

doi:10.1038/s41586-020-3011-4

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Journal article

Enigmatic dinosaur precursors bridge the gap to the origin of Pterosauria

Ezcurra, Martín D. Sección Paleontología de Vertebrados CONICET–Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales ‘Bernardino Rivadavia‘, Buenos Aires, Argentina - School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
Nesbitt, Sterling J. Department of Geosciences, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA
Bronzati, Mario Departamento de Biologia, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
Vecchia, Fabio Marco Dalla Research Group of Mesozoic Faunas, Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont (ICP), Sabadell, Spain - Museo Friulano di Storia Naturale, Udine, Italy
Agnolin, Federico L. Laboratorio de Anatomía Comparada y Evolución de los Vertebrados CONICET–Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales ‘Bernardino Rivadavia’, Buenos Aires, Argentina - Fundación de Historia Natural ‘Félix de Azara’, Departamento de Ciencias Naturales y Antropología, Universidad Maimónides, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Benson, Roger B. J. Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
Egli, Federico Brissón Laboratorio de Anatomía Comparada y Evolución de los Vertebrados CONICET–Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales ‘Bernardino Rivadavia’, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Cabreira, Sergio F. Associação Sul Brasileira de Paleontologia, Faxinal do Soturno, Brazil
Evers, Serjoscha W. Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK - Department of Geosciences, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland
Gentil, Adriel R. Laboratorio de Anatomía Comparada y Evolución de los Vertebrados CONICET–Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales ‘Bernardino Rivadavia’, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Irmis, Randall B. Natural History Museum of Utah, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA - Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
Martinelli, Agustín G. Sección Paleontología de Vertebrados CONICET–Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales ‘Bernardino Rivadavia‘, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Novas, Fernando E. Laboratorio de Anatomía Comparada y Evolución de los Vertebrados CONICET–Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales ‘Bernardino Rivadavia’, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Silva, Lúcio Roberto da Associação Sul Brasileira de Paleontologia, Faxinal do Soturno, Brazil
Smith, Nathan D. The Dinosaur Institute, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Stocker, Michelle R. Department of Geosciences, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA
Turner, Alan H. Department of Anatomical Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, USA
Langer, Max C. Departamento de Biologia, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil

09.12.2020

Published in:

Nature. - 2020, vol. 588, no. 2020-7838, p. 445–449

English Pterosaurs were the first vertebrates to evolve powered flight1 and comprised one of the main evolutionary radiations in terrestrial ecosystems of the Mesozoic era (approximately 252–66 million years ago), but their origin has remained an unresolved enigma in palaeontology since the nineteenth century2,3,4. These flying reptiles have been hypothesized to be the close relatives of a wide variety of reptilian clades, including dinosaur relatives2,3,4,5,6,7,8, and there is still a major morphological gap between those forms and the oldest, unambiguous pterosaurs from the Upper Triassic series. Here, using recent discoveries of well-preserved cranial remains, microcomputed tomography scans of fragile skull bones (jaws, skull roofs and braincases) and reliably associated postcrania, we demonstrate that lagerpetids—a group of cursorial, non-volant dinosaur precursors—are the sister group of pterosaurs, sharing numerous synapomorphies across the entire skeleton. This finding substantially shortens the temporal and morphological gap between the oldest pterosaurs and their closest relatives and simultaneously strengthens the evidence that pterosaurs belong to the avian line of archosaurs. Neuroanatomical features related to the enhanced sensory abilities of pterosaurs9 are already present in lagerpetids, which indicates that these features evolved before flight. Our evidence illuminates the first steps of the assembly of the pterosaur body plan, whose conquest of aerial space represents a remarkable morphofunctional innovation in vertebrate evolution.

Faculty

Faculté des sciences et de médecine

Department

Département de Géosciences

Language