Pterosaurs. Flying Contemporaries of the Dinosaurs / Птерозавры. Летающие современники динозавров

Pterosaurs (meaning ‘winged lizard’) were the first vertebrates to fly (figure 1) and are therefore often referred to as ‘flying reptiles’. However, like the dinosaurs, they are only remotely related to modern reptiles. For the same reason, it is not correct to refer to pterosaurs as ‘flying dinosaurs’.As far as we know to date, pterosaurs evolved late in the Triassic (over 200 million years ago, figure 2). By the end of the Cretaceous (about 65 million years ago) they became extinct, together with, among other creatures, the dinosaurs. No relatives survived, due to which it became impossible for the palaeontologists to compare them from an anatomical point of view to living relatives as pterosaurs do not look alike any animal that lives nowadays. This makes it even more difficult to understand these prehistoric animals relative to other extinct fauna such as dinosaurs and even living birds. Fortunately, over the last 50 years or so there has been a wealth of new finds and an enormous increase in research. The pace of research is so fast that, even in writing an update, it is already slightly outdated.<...>