PteroGoss

Above: Mark Witton explains why pterosaurs are so cool. Copyright BBC.

Nothing much to report in the way of good goss lately. It's been quiet in the world of dinosaurology... almost too quiet...

But not so if you're also a big pterodactyl geek. This is not PteroGoss but I'll link to a few awesome stories coming out lately...

Eudimorphodon rosenfeldi has been assigned to a new genus, Carniadactylus, in a sweet paper looking at relationships of primitive pterosaurs. The authors also consider the super-weird Raeticodactylus to actually be a synonym of the contemporary Caviramus. Here's the article from Wikipedia.

Mark Witton describes a new species of Tupuxuara, T. deliradamus! That translates as "crazy diamond," making it officially one of the most awesome pterosaur names that could also be a character in a Guy Ritchie film. Mark also sorted out the priority of Tupuxuaridae vs Thalassodromidae, which you can read about at his blog.

In other Mark Witton news, he's the subject of a new series of videos done by the BBC tracking the construction of several giant pterosaur models for an upcoming British exhibition. Check out TetZoo for more.

Above: Sketch of the upcoming outdoor pterosaur models at the Southbank Centre in London, for the Royal Society exhibition. Copyright BBC.

Lastly, today a new paper announced the discovery of the first known pterosaur landing tracks. The tracks suggest they landed like birds, feet-first, flapping their wings to stall before dropping onto all fours.