page_title: Pterosaur
section_title: First finds
hierarchical_section_title: Pterosaur / History of discovery / First finds
caption_attribution_description: English: Life reconstruction of pterodactyls as flying marsupials by English naturalist Edward Newman in 1843
context_page_description: Pterosaurs were flying reptiles of the extinct clade or order Pterosauria. They existed during most of the Mesozoic: from the late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous. Pterosaurs are the earliest vertebrates known to have evolved powered flight. Their wings were formed by a membrane of skin, muscle, and other tissues stretching from the ankles to a dramatically lengthened fourth finger.
  There were two major types of pterosaurs. Basal pterosaurs were smaller animals with fully toothed jaws and, typically, long tails. Their wide wing membranes probably included and connected the hind legs. On the ground, they would have had an awkward sprawling posture, but their joint anatomy and strong claws would have made them effective climbers, and they may have lived in trees. Basal pterosaurs were insectivores or predators of small vertebrates. Later pterosaurs evolved many sizes, shapes, and lifestyles. Pterodactyloids had narrower wings with free hind limbs, highly reduced tails, and long necks with large heads.
context_section_description: Pterosaur fossils are very rare, due to their light bone construction. Complete skeletons can generally only be found in geological layers with exceptional preservation conditions, the so-called Lagerstätten. The pieces from one such Lagerstätte, the Late Jurassic Solnhofen Limestone in Bavaria, became much sought after by rich collectors. In 1784, the Italian naturalist Cosimo Alessandro Collini was the first scientist in history to describe a pterosaur fossil. At that time the concepts of evolution and extinction were only imperfectly developed. The bizarre build of the pterosaur was therefore shocking, as it could not clearly be assigned to any existing animal group. The discovery of pterosaurs would thus play an important role in the progress of modern paleontology and geology. If such creatures were still alive, only the sea was a credible habitat and Collini suggested it might be a swimming animal that used its long front limbs as paddles. A few scientists continued to support the aquatic interpretation even until 1830, when the German zoologist Johann Georg Wagler suggested that Pterodactylus used its wings as flippers and was affiliated with Ichthyosauria and Plesiosauria. 
  In 1800, Johann Hermann first suggested that it represented a flying creature in a letter to Georges Cuvier. Cuvier agreed in 1801, understanding it was an extinct flying reptile. In 1809, he coined the name Ptéro-Dactyle, "wing-finger". This was in 1815 Latinised to Pterodactylus. At first most species were assigned to this genus and ultimately "pterodactyl" was popularly and incorrectly applied to all members of Pterosauria. Today, paleontologists limit the term to the genus Pterodactylus or members of the Pterodactyloidea.
  In 1812 and 1817, Samuel Thomas von Soemmerring redescribed the original specimen and an additional one. He saw them as affiliated to birds and bats. Although he was mistaken in this, his "bat model" would be very influential during the 19th century. In 1843, Edward Newman thought pterosaurs were flying marsupials. As the bat model correctly depicted pterosaurs as furred and warm-blooded, it better approached the true physiology of pterosaurs than Cuvier's "reptile model". In 1834, Johann Jakob Kaup coined the term Pterosauria.
caption: Newman's marsupial pterosaurs
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