page_title: Patagium
section_title: Pterosaurs
hierarchical_section_title: Patagium / Pterosaurs
caption_attribution_description: English: Pterosaur's wing anatomy Italiano: Anatomia dell'ala degli pterosauri
context_page_description: The patagium is a membranous structure that assists an animal in gliding or flight. The structure is found in living and extinct groups of animals including bats, birds, some dromaeosaurs, pterosaurs, gliding mammals, some flying lizards, and flying frogs. The patagium that stretches between an animal's hind limbs is called the uropatagium or the interfemoral membrane.
context_section_description: In the flying pterosaurs, the patagium was composed of the membrane forming the surface of the wing, supported primarily between the body and the elongated fourth finger.
  The patagium of a pterosaur had three distinct parts:
  Propatagium: the anterior-most membrane, extending from the shoulder to the wrist. Pterosaurs developed a unique bone to support this membrane, the pteroid.
  Brachiopatagium: the main flight surface, stretching from the elongated fourth finger to the hindlimbs.
  Uropatagium or cruropatagium: the posterior-most membrane occurring between the two hindlimbs.
caption: Pterosaur wing anatomy showing the propatagium and brachiopatagium
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