“Climate drivers” and the origin of pterosaurs

Foffa et al 2025 wrote,
“The origin of pterosaurs, the first vertebrates to achieve powered flight, is poorly understood, owing to the temporal and morphological gaps that separate them from their closest non-flying relatives, the lagerpetids.”

More than a dozen co-authors have joined in to perpetuate this myth, ignoring = omitting the phylogenetic closest non-flying relatives, the fenestrasaurs, miniature tanstrophyid lepidosaurs (Peters 2000, 2002, 2007, 2009, Figs 2, 3).

In the large reptile tree (LRT, 2338 taxa) which minimizes taxon exclusion lagerpetids are bipedal proterochampsids and archosauriforms close to Tropidosuchus (Fig 1).

Figure 1. Tropidosuchus and Lagerpeton compared to the new material (MCZ 101542). ” data-image-caption=”

Figure 1. Tropidosuchus and Lagerpeton compared to the new material (MCZ 101542).

” data-medium-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/lagerpeton588-1.jpg?w=243″ data-large-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/lagerpeton588-1.jpg?w=584″ class=”size-full wp-image-53669″ src=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/lagerpeton588-1.jpg” alt=”Figure 1. Tropidosuchus and Lagerpeton compared to the new material (MCZ 101542).” width=”584″ height=”722″ srcset=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/lagerpeton588-1.jpg?w=584&h=722 584w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/lagerpeton588-1.jpg?w=121&h=150 121w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/lagerpeton588-1.jpg?w=243&h=300 243w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/lagerpeton588-1.jpg 588w” sizes=”(max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px” />

Figure 1. Tropidosuchus and Lagerpeton compared to the new material (MCZ 101542).

Foffa et al wrote,
“Our results reveal distinct climatic preferences and dispersal histories: lagerpetids tolerated a broader range of conditions, including arid belts, enabling a widespread distribution from the Middle to early Late Triassic. Conversely, pterosaurs preferred wetter environments, resulting in a patchier geographical distribution that expanded only as humidity increased in the Late Triassic, probably following the Carnian Pluvial Event.”

Wetter vs drier? That’s the best more than a dozen PhDs can muster? The authors want to discover the origin of pterosaurs so badly they will resort to this act of desperation. Sorry, colleagues, you’re 25 years too late (see references below).

Next time try phylogenetic analysis and don’t omit competing candidates (Figs 2, 3) and relevant citations. To do so makes paleontologists look less professional and gives amateurs the opportunity to look more  professional.

For readers considering paleontology as a profession, this is what you can expect from Academia. Remember, this paper was considered acceptable by the authors, referees and editors, all forgetting that the origin of pterosaurs was documented in peer-reviewed professional journals 25 years ago.

From cx-jouney.com:
“The tribal wisdom of the Dakota Indians, passed on from one generation to the next, says that when you discover that you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount.”

Figure 1. Click to enlarge. The origin of the pterosaur wing and the migration of the pteroid and preaxial carpal. A. Sphenodon. B. Huehuecuetzpalli. C. Cosesaurus. D. Sharovipteryx. E. Longisquama. F-H. The Milan specimen MPUM 6009, a basal pterosaur. ” data-image-caption=”

Figure 1. Click to enlarge. The origin of the pterosaur wing and the migration of the pteroid and preaxial carpal. A. Sphenodon. B. Huehuecuetzpalli. C. Cosesaurus. D. Sharovipteryx. E. Longisquama. F-H. The Milan specimen MPUM 6009, a basal pterosaur.

” data-medium-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/pterosaur-wing-origin1.jpg?w=300″ data-large-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/pterosaur-wing-origin1.jpg?w=584″ class=”size-full wp-image-1415″ src=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/pterosaur-wing-origin1.jpg” alt=”Figure 1. Click to enlarge. The origin of the pterosaur wing and the migration of the pteroid and preaxial carpal. A. Sphenodon. B. Huehuecuetzpalli. C. Cosesaurus. D. Sharovipteryx. E. Longisquama. F-H. The Milan specimen MPUM 6009, a basal pterosaur.” width=”584″ height=”434″ srcset=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/pterosaur-wing-origin1.jpg?w=584&h=434 584w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/pterosaur-wing-origin1.jpg?w=150&h=111 150w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/pterosaur-wing-origin1.jpg?w=300&h=223 300w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/pterosaur-wing-origin1.jpg 588w” sizes=”(max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px” />

Figure 2. Click to enlarge. The origin of the pterosaur wing and the migration of the pteroid and preaxial carpal. A. Sphenodon. B. Huehuecuetzpalli. C. Cosesaurus. D. Sharovipteryx. E. Longisquama. F-H. The Milan specimen MPUM 6009, a basal pterosaur.

For more information on the Middle Triassic origin of pterosaurs
click these links: Cosesaurus, Sharovipteryx, Longisquama, Bergamodactylus, pterosaur wings and others below that include the timeline of pterosaur origin studies.

Figure 1. Several Macrocnemus specimens to scale alongside the ancestral taxon in the LRT, Huehuecuetzpalli, and descendant taxa in the LRT, including Cosesaurus and the fenestrasaurs Sharovipteryx, Longisquama and Bergamodactylus. The similarities in transitional taxa should be obvious. ” data-image-caption=”

Figure 1. Several Macrocnemus specimens to scale alongside the ancestral taxon in the LRT, Huehuecuetzpalli, and descendant taxa in the LRT, including Cosesaurus and the fenestrasaurs Sharovipteryx, Longisquama and Bergamodactylus. The similarities in transitional taxa should be obvious.

” data-medium-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/macrocnemus_compared588-1.jpg?w=117″ data-large-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/macrocnemus_compared588-1.jpg?w=399″ class=”size-full wp-image-47711″ src=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/macrocnemus_compared588-1.jpg” alt=”Figure 1. Several Macrocnemus specimens to scale alongside the ancestral taxon in the LRT, Huehuecuetzpalli, and descendant taxa in the LRT, including Cosesaurus and the fenestrasaurs Sharovipteryx, Longisquama and Bergamodactylus. The similarities in transitional taxa should be obvious.” width=”584″ height=”1500″ srcset=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/macrocnemus_compared588-1.jpg?w=584&h=1500 584w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/macrocnemus_compared588-1.jpg?w=58&h=150 58w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/macrocnemus_compared588-1.jpg?w=117&h=300 117w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/macrocnemus_compared588-1.jpg 588w” sizes=”(max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px” />

Figure 3. Several Macrocnemus specimens to scale alongside the ancestral taxon in the LRT, Huehuecuetzpalli, and descendant taxa in the LRT, including Cosesaurus and the fenestrasaurs Sharovipteryx, Longisquama and Bergamodactylus. The similarities in transitional taxa should be obvious.

For more information = publicity
on the Foffa et al 2025 paper, see below.

References
Foffa D et al (more than a dozen co-authors) 2025. Climate drivers and palaeobiogeography of lagerpetids and early pterosaurs. Nat Ecol Evol (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-025-02767-8
Peters D 2000b. A Redescription of Four Prolacertiform Genera and Implications for Pterosaur Phylogenesis. Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia 106 (3): 293–336.
Peters D 2002. A New Model for the Evolution of the Pterosaur Wing – with a twist. Hist Bio 15: 277–301.
Peters D 2007. The origin and radiation of the Pterosauria. In D. Hone ed. Flugsaurier. The Wellnhofer pterosaur meeting, 2007, Munich, Germany. p. 27.
Peters D 2009. A reinterpretation of pteroid articulation in pterosaurs. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 29:1327-1330.

reptileevolution.com/pterosaur-wings.htm

Publicity
theconversation.com/how-pterosaurs-learned-to-fly-scientists-have-been-looking-in-the-wrong-place-to-solve-this-mystery-259063

“How pterosaurs learned to fly: scientists have been looking in the wrong place to solve this mystery.

“The first flying vertebrates seemed to appear on the geological stage fully formed, leaving almost no trace of their first tentative steps into the air. Most of the handful of Triassic specimens come from narrow seams of dark shale in Italy and Austria, with other fragments discovered in Greenland, Argentina and the southwestern US. These skeletons appear fully adapted for flight, with a hyper-elongated fourth finger supporting membrane-wings.

“Yet older rocks show no trace of intermediate gliders or other transitional forms that you might expect as evidence of pterosaurs’ evolution over time.”

That is incorrect. See Peters 2000 and links above.

“This brought new evidence about when pterosaurs may have originated. Pterosaurs and lagerpetids like Scleromochlus, a small land-dwelling reptile, diverged at some point after the end-Permian mass extinction.”

Figure 1. Scleromochlus from ReptileEvolution.com. ” data-image-caption=”

Figure 1. Scleromochlus from ReptileEvolution.com.

” data-medium-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/scleromochlus588.jpg?w=300″ data-large-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/scleromochlus588.jpg?w=584″ class=”size-full wp-image-69605″ src=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/scleromochlus588.jpg” alt=”Figure 1. Scleromochlus from ReptileEvolution.com.” width=”584″ height=”375″ srcset=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/scleromochlus588.jpg?w=584&h=375 584w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/scleromochlus588.jpg?w=150&h=96 150w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/scleromochlus588.jpg?w=300&h=193 300w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/scleromochlus588.jpg 588w” sizes=”(max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px” />

Figure 4. Scleromochlus from ReptileEvolution.com.

In the LRT Scleromochlus is a bipedal basal crocodylomorph with extra-tiny hands (Fig 4), a flat skull, no molars (yes, Triassic pterosaurs and their relatives had multi-cusped back teeth), no attenuated tail, no prepubis, no sternal complex and no metapodial fifth toe.

“Our study flags a dozen geological formations, from rivers with fine sediment deposits to lake beds, as potential prime targets for the next breakthrough discovery. They include the Timezgadiouine beds of Morocco,”

Cosesaurus was found nearby in eastern Spain.

“the Guanling Formation of south-west China…’

Sharovipteryx, Longisquama and Krygyzsaurus were found nearby in Kyrgystan.
BTW south-west China = Tibet, but not mountainous in the Late Triassic.

“Many celebrated fossil sites in Europe emerge as poor pterosaur habitat until very late in the Triassic period: they were simply too hot, too dry or otherwise inhospitable before the Carnian age, around 235 million years ago.”

And, “Pterosaurs were initially confined to tropical treetops near the equator.”

Think about it: ‘too hot’ and how that intersects with ‘near the equator’.

Pterosaur worker puts on blinders

Timeline of pterosaur origin studies

What exactly IS a pterosaur? – part 3 of 3