Quetzalcoatlus

[darylj]

This forum is proving to be such a valuable source of education, and also, its great to have a group of people to discuss all things paleo with!

Anyway…
With regards to Quetzalcoatlus, or any other ‘large pterosaur’
Has there been any actual fossil evidence that these enormous reptiles had wings?
I know that sounds stupid… and im not suggesting that they didn’t have wings…. Just I read a piece regarding flight, and maximum size to enable flight etc, and im wondering if these giant pterosaurs were perhaps completely flightless.
Im aware that they possess a lot of specialized features for flight and that its completely possible that they were capable of sustained flight… but what are peoples thoughts on this matter?

[CityRaptor]

They obviously had wings. I don't think they were completely flightless, but more like most long-legged birds, who spend a lot time on the ground, yet are capable flyers, like storks or flamingoes. I thinkj I blame that on that one pic where they are shown behaving like storks....

As for issues with flight, if we go by that, a bumblebee shouldn't be able to fly either, yet it does.

[Gryphoceratops]

I know there was an idea going around by some scientists who were saying that Azdarchids may have been flightless but I think it was later disproved.  Like said above its likely that they were comfortable walkers who could fly if they had to. 

[Horridus]

I thinkj I blame that on that one pic where they are shown behaving like storks....

You mean the one(s) by Mark Witton, who is a firm advocate of giant pterosaurs being able to fly? Would be very ironic if true! (Example from his Flickr album below.)




Paper by Witton & Habib worth a read: http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0013982

[CityRaptor]

How is that ironic? I said that I blame it on Witton's work that I see them as some sort of giant storks, not people assuming them to be flightless.

[Horridus]

How is that ironic? I said that I blame it on Witton's work that I see them as some sort of giant storks, not people assuming them to be flightless.

Whoops, misunderstood you, sorry.

Although I should mention that it is known how bumblebees fly.

[darylj]

yeah the bumble bee thing is understood now...
i know they have wings... but, well... do we have evidence on the skin that makes the wing flap?
i read that there front limbs were proportioned similar to a generic running ungulate, though the hind limbs wer not as well designed....
rather than a stork, im more picturing a giraffe type animal, that was completely flightless....

if so, and with most / all other lines of pterosaur being replaced by birds by the end of the cretaceous... this would explain why there giant flying creatures didnt survive

[Zopteryx]

So far the brachiopatagium (wing membrane ) is not known for the largest pterosaurs, but this really isn't surprising as it is soft tissue which is rarely preserved.  There are plenty of small pterosaurs that certainly could fly, but the membrane was not preserved with the bones.  More specific to Quetzalcoatlus, the sediments in the formations that yield its bones are not known for often preserving soft tissue details like those of Solnhofen Germany or the Yixian formation of China.

As said above, Quetzalcoatlus was most likely a crane or stork like opportunist, finding most of its food on the ground.  It used it long legs to walk great distances while searching for food, or perhaps to give it some elevation while standing in water hunting fish.  It couldn't run, but its legs (especially its front legs) needed to be strong so as that it could take off from a standing start.