Tropeognathus
Fact File
Name Of Dinosaur: Tropeognathus mesembrinus
Pronounciation Of Name: Trope-awg-nay-thus meh-sem-bree-nus
Meaning Of Name: Southern Keel Jaw
Diet: Fish and squid
Wingspan: 20 feet
Height: 5 feet (at head when on all fours)
Weight: 25 pounds (that’s my personal estimate)
Time It Lived: Cretaceous Period, 122-112 million years ago
Fossils Found In: Brazil
Information: Considering that Tropeognathus is a Pterosaur
(Tare-oh-sore), not a dinosaur, I probably shouldn't have put "Name Of
Dinosaur" at the top of this fact file, but I need to keep a strict
fact file code. Anyway, Tropeognathus is a very interesting pterosaur.
About the size of a hang glider, it was a mid-sized Cretaceous Ornithocheirid
(Ore-nih-thoh-kye-rid) Pterosaur, which soared over the Brazilian seas
like a gigantic seagull. At the end of its two-foot long bill, Tropeognathus
possessed a pair of keels, one on the upper jaw and one on the lower.
These keels probably acted as stabilizers when Tropeognathus dipped its
bill into the water to grab fish while in flight. The keels allowed the
bill to cut smoothly through the water, preventing Tropeognathus from losing
its balance, falling into the water, soaking itself, and, unable to become
airborne again, leaving it an easy target for marine predators. Like its
distant relative, the better-known Pteranodon (Tare-an-oh-dawn), Tropeognathus
sported a crest at the back of its skull, but this crest was very small,
probably not much more than a bony lump on the back of the head. One very
interesting recently discovered fact about pterosaurs is that they possessed
a highly sophisticated physiological flight apparatus. CAT scans of Pterosaur
braincases reveal that their skulls contained huge brain lobes and tiny
inner ear canals. This system, called the flocculus, was apparently capable
of linking brain activity with body movement, allowing the Pterosaur to
focus on searching for its prey on the ground or in the water below while
still keeping full aerodynamic control. Complex muscle structures near the
surface of the Pterosaur's wings acted like sensory organs, collecting data
on wind speed, air temperature, wing tension and position, and other important
aerodynamic factors, and sending it all to the Pterosaur's brain via the
flocculus. Then the brain could send information back through the flocculus
and to the wings, instructing changes on wing tension, adapting the wings
to alter flight speed or direction in accordance to the surrounding conditions.
This system would have made the Pterosaurs far more efficient flyers than
any bird, bat, or man-made aircraft. So it looks like we can't use the Pterosaur
extinction theory of competitive evolutionary pressure by birds any more.
For Further Information, E-Mail
Bryan Or Visit…
http://dino.lm.com/images/display.php?id=559
(No Information, But A Terrific Picture!)
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/10/1029_031029_pterosaurs.html
http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2003/10/30/pterosaurs031030
http://www.sciscoop.com/story/2003/10/30/65316/830
http://dinosauricon.com/genera/tropeognathus.html
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©2004 by Bryan Bongey