Pterosaur flight

Abstract

There are three known vertebrate groups whose representatives can actively fly: birds, bats, and pterosaurs. Among them, birds are of greatest interest for biologists and engineers. It is the flight of birds that serves as a reference basis for other groups in the studyi or reconstruction the flight of vertebrates. However, whereas the aerodynamic principles are common for all groups due to the environmental uniformity, the biomechanical means of flying depend on the morphological wing features of each of these groups due to their individual evolutionary prehistory. In addition, we can directly observe the flight of birds and bats and compare our assumptions with the actual state, while the study of pterosaurs does not provide this opportunity and allows reconstruction of the flight principles of this group only on the basis of paleontological data on the morphological features of their wing and evolution.