Abstract: The preservation of the wing membrane of pterosaurs is very poor and the available fossil evidence does not allow its properties to be reconstructed. In contrast, the fossil record for the wing bones is relatively good and the advent of CT scanning has made it possible to build high-fidelity structural models of the wing spar. The bending strength of the wing spar of a 6 m wingspan ornithocheirid pterosaur is used to infer the likely membrane tension. The tensions required to suppress aeroelastic flutter and to minimize ballooning of the membrane under flight loads are also estimated. All three estimates are of similar magnitude and imply that the membrane must have contained high-modulus material, supporting the view that the reinforcing aktinofibrils were keratinous.

Abstract: We report on a diminutive pterosaur specimen (MIC-V246), from the Lower Cretaceous Lagarcito Formation, which has anatomical features and general proportions that agree with those of other juvenile specimens of the filter-feeding pterosaur Pterodaustro guinazui . MIC-V246 is nearly complete, with the majority of its bones in natural articulation. The specimen is preserved within a small oval surface inferred to demarcate the outline of an egg. It includes remains of the skull and mandible, some cervical, dorsal, sacral and caudal vertebrae, ribs, gastralia, both shoulder girdles, part of the ilium, and the forelimbs and hindlimbs. The skeleton is arranged in a position similar to that of avian embryos, with the wings folded sideways, the hindlimbs flexed, and the skull tucked beneath a wing. The bones are partially covered by an irregularly distributed substance differing in texture and colour from the bony elements, and identified as remnants of the eggshell. The diminutive size of the skeleton, along with its arrangement and morphology, support the identification of this specimen as one of the very few pterosaur embryos known worldwide. Its similarity in size to other Pterodaustro specimens interpreted as hatchlings suggests that MIC-V246 was near hatching when it died.

Abstract: Pterosaur fossils are rare in the Morrison Formation, and most are poorly preserved. The Breakfast Bench Facies (BBF) at Como Bluff produces incomplete but uncrushed limbs. One proximal and two distal femora match a complete femur (BYU 17214) referred to Mesadactylus . Unexpectedly, both of the BBF distal femora possess a large intercondylar pneumatopore. BYU 17214 also possesses an intercondylar pneumatopore, but it is smaller than in the BBF femora. Distal femoral pnuematicity is previously recognized only in Cretaceous azhdarchoids and pteranodontids. A peculiar BBF jaw fragment shows strongly labiolingually compressed, incurved crowns with their upper half bent backwards; associated are anterior fangs. We suspect this specimen is a previously undiagnosed pterosaur. Additional BBF material documents a diverse pterosaur fauna including a humerus with a greatly expanded ectepicondyle possibly from a non-pterodactyloid monofenestratan.

Abstract: After being inaccessible for a number of years, the holotype and other specimens of the dsungaripterid pterodactyloid pterosaur Noripterus complicidens are again available for study. Numerous taxa assigned to the Dsungaripteridae have been described since the erection of Noripterus , but with limited comparisons to this genus. Based on the information from Young’s original material here we revise the taxonomic identity of N. complicidens and that of other Asian dsungaripterids. We conclude that N. complicidens is likely to be distinct from the material recovered from Mongolia and this latter material should be placed in a separate genus.

Abstract: The Middle–Upper Jurassic Oxford Clay Formation of the UK is a highly productive fossiliferous unit, containing numerous fossils of marine and terrestrial vertebrates. Despite this abundance, pterosaurs make up only a tiny percentage of the assemblage. There are currently only seven specimens accessioned in the Oxford University Museum of Natural History and Natural History Museum, London. Of these, only one specimen (an association of material from a juvenile animal) has been named, identified as Rhamphorhynchus jessoni . Following a detailed examination, it is identified here as lacking any autapomorphies and the species R . jessoni is considered a nomen dubium . The other Oxford Clay Formation pterosaur fossils are similarly identified as indeterminate, except for an isolated scapulocoracoid which is positively identified as Rhamphorhynchus sp. The rarity of pterosaurs is attributed to a combination of the fragility of their bones and the tendency of volant animals to have low population densities at sea.

Abstract: A pterosaur humerus (PRC 64) from the Upper Jurassic of Thailand was initially assigned to the Azhdarchoidea, an important clade of edentulous Cretaceous pterodactyloid pterosaurs. Here it is reassigned, on the basis of morphological comparisons and a phylogenetic analysis, to the Rhamphorhynchidae, a widely distributed clade of small to medium-sized seemingly piscivorous basal pterosaurs. This record extends the geographical range of rhamphorhynchids and confirms recent findings that these pterosaurs inhabited continental as well as marginal marine ecosystems.

Abstract: Three associated incomplete wing bones of a large pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Ferron Sandstone Member of the Mancos Shale Formation of Utah are described. Based on the morphology of the bones’ articular ends, the specimen is referred to the Pteranodontoidea. Associated ammonites indicate that the specimen’s age is Middle Turonian, so it adds to the sparse worldwide record of Turonian pterosaurs. The record of pteranodontoid pterosaurs in the Western Interior Seaway of North America is reviewed, and it is suggested that pteranodontoids were not diverse.

Abstract: An incomplete bone from the latest Cretaceous dinosaur site of Villaggio del Pescatore (Trieste Province, Italy) is definitely a wing metacarpal of a pterodactyloid pterosaur. It represents the only Italian Cretaceous pterosaur remains known, as well as the only pterosaur from the Adriatic Carbonate Platform. With an estimated minimum length of 136 mm, it belongs to a relatively small individual relative to the standard of latest Cretaceous pterodactyloids. It is not as elongated and gracile as azhdarchid wing metacarpals and shows a mix of features found in Pteranodon and some more basal pterodactyloids. It is one of the very few remains of putative non-azhdarchid pterosaurs from the upper Campanian–Maastrichtian worldwide and supports the view that the Azhdarchidae were not the only pterosaur clade existing during latest Cretaceous times.

Abstract: A specimen of a pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Upper Tunbridge Wells Sand Formation (Early Cretaceous, Valanginian) of Bexhill, East Sussex, southern England is described. It comprises a small fragment of jaw with teeth, a partial vertebral column and associated incomplete wing bones. The juxtaposition of the bones suggests that the specimen was originally more complete and articulated. Its precise phylogenetic relationships are uncertain but it represents an indeterminate lonchodectid with affinities to Lonchodectes sagittirostris ( Owen 1874 ) which is reviewed here, and may belong in Lonchodraco Rodrigues & Kellner 2013 . This specimen is only the third record of pterosaurs from this formation.