TLS09E05 A Sternum talking to
Terrible Lizards
English - May 31, 2023 04:30 - 54 minutes - 37.7 MBNatural Sciences Science Nature cretaceous dino dinosaur dinosaurs paleontology raptor reptile triassic ammonite ancient Homepage Download Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Pterosaurs flew! No big shock there, but obviously flight places major constraints and selective pressures on the skeleton. This should mean all pterosaurs have standard, not-that-varied flight anatomy (in the same way most walking animals have similar leg anatomy). It turns out an absolutely critical part of the pterosaur is both basically all but unstudied and wildly variable, yes, it’s the sternum.
Dr Dave Hone (hello!) has just published a huge paper cataloguing and describing basically every sternum for every pterosaur out there and Iszi (hello!) gets to the bottom of why this is important for science and bad for Dave's mental health.
Here is a link to Dave's blog: https://archosaurmusings.wordpress.com/2023/04/20/everything-you-didnt-think-to-ask-about-the-pterosaur-sternum-and-were-afraid-to-ask/?fbclid=IwAR3roJ1M-PgFO-53NZlPEXv--jkTo2xLTbh1okSC03QkeFY4nFnjZ_TELVw
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