A note on pterosaur nesting behavior |
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| Authors: | Gerald Grellet-Tinner Stephen Wroe Michael B Thompson Qiang Ji |
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| Institution: | 1. South Dakota School of Mines and Technology , Rapid City, SD, 57701, USA gerald.grellet-tinner@sdsmt.edu;3. Electron Microscope Unit (F09) , Australian Key Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis, The University of Sydney , Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia;4. School of Biological Sciences (A08), University of Sydney , Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia;5. Electron Microscope Unit (F09) , Australian Key Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis, The University of Sydney , Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia;6. Department of Earth Sciences , Nanjing University , Nanjing, 210093, People's Republic of China |
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| Abstract: | Based on examination of eggshell structure and predicted vapor conductances in eggshells in recently described material from Argentina and China we conclude that pterosaurs buried their eggs. Egg-burying imposes theoretical restrictions on the distribution of pterosaurs, both geographically and spatially, raises the possibility of thermal sex determination and supports previous suggestions that they exhibited nesting fidelity. Some features associated with egg-burying, such as weight savings, are likely to have been fortuitous pre-adaptations for these flying reptiles, but others may have disadvantaged them relative to avian competitors or increased their vulnerability to extinction in a cooling climate. |
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| Keywords: | Eggshell vapor conductance eggshell structure nesting behaviour egg pterosauria |
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