Dragons of the Air: An Account of Extinct Flying ReptilesSeeley, H. G. (Harry Govier)
Science
Dragons of the Air: An Account of Extinct Flying Reptiles
Seeley, H. G. (Harry Govier)
Pterosauria
The keel was pneumatic, and when broken is seen to be hollow, and
appears to have been exceptionally high in Rhamphorhynchus, a genus in
which the wing bones are greatly elongated. Von Meyer found in
Rhamphorhynchus on each side of the sternum a separate lateral plate
with six pairs of sternal ribs, which unite the sternum with the dorsal
ribs, as in the young of some birds. The hinder surface of the sternum
is imperfectly preserved in the toothless Pterodactyles of Kansas.
Professor Williston states that the bone is extremely thin and
pentagonal in outline, projecting in front of the coracoids, in a stout,
blunt, keel-like process, similar to that seen in the Pterodactyles of
the Cambridge Greensand. American specimens have not the same notch
behind the articulation for the coracoid to separate it from the
transverse lateral expansion of the sternal shield. The lateral margin
in the Cambridge Greensand specimens figured by Professor Owen and
myself is broken; but Professor Williston had the good fortune to find
on the margin of the sternum the articular surfaces which gave
attachment to the sternal ribs. The margin of the sternal bone thickens
at these facets, four of which are preserved. The sternum in
Ornithostoma was about four and a half inches long by less than five and
a half inches wide. The median keel extends forward for rather less than
two inches, while in the smaller Cambridge species of Ornithocheirus it
extends forward for less than an inch and a half.
A sternum of this kind is unlike that of any other animal, but has most
in common with a bird; and may be regarded as indicating considerable
power of flight. The bone cannot be entirely attributed to the effect of
flight, since there is no such expanded sternal shield in Bats. The
small number of sternal ribs is even more characteristic of birds than
mammals or reptiles.
THE SHOULDER-GIRDLE
The bones which support the fore limb are one of the distinctive regions
of the skeleton defining the animal's place in nature. Among most of the
lower vertebrata, such as Amphibians and Reptiles, the girdle is a
double arch--the arch of the collar bone or clavicles in front, and the
arch of the shoulder-blade or scapula behind. The clavicular arch, when
it exists, is formed of three or five parts--a medium bar named the
interclavicle, external to which is a pair of bones called clavicles,
reaching to the front of the scapulæ when they are present; and
occasionally there is a second pair of bones called supraclavicles,
extending from the clavicles up the front margins of the scapulæ. Thus
the clavicular arch is placed in front of the scapular arch. The
supraclavicles are absent from all living Reptiles, and the clavicles
are absent from Crocodiles. The interclavicle is absent from all mammals
except Echidna and Ornithorhynchus. Clavicles also may be absent in some
orders of mammals. Hence the clavicular arch may be lost, though the
collar bones are retained in man.
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