Tag: David W. E. Hone

by Dave Hone(1) Introduction: Thanks to Tyrannosaurus rex, the tyrannosaurs are among the most famous of the extinct dinosaur groups. They receive a disproportionate amount of attention in the media and hold a firm place in the public imagination. However, this also means that more misconceptions and out-of-date ideas are promoted for this group than any other, and the excess of attention detracts from the fact that they are a genuinely interesting clade of animals. In fact, thanks to a great deal of research effort, we may know more about tyrannosaurs than any other group of dinosaurs from the Mesozoic era (252 million to 66 million years ago). This alone makes them a key part of palaeontology. All tyrannosaurs were carnivores, and although the most famous forms from the last part o...

by David W. E. Hone*1 Introduction: Pterosaurs are often mistakenly called flying dinosaurs, but they are a distinct, although related, lineage. They are an extinct group of reptiles from the Mesozoic era (251 million to 66 million years ago) and were the first vertebrates to evolve powered flight (Figs 1 and 2). Pterosaurs were first described as early as 1783 and recognized as flying reptiles shortly afterwards, and more than 150 species are now known. Fossil pterosaurs have been found around the world, with every continent yielding specimens. Adult pterosaurs ranged in size from around 1 metre in wingspan to more than 10 metres; the largest species were the biggest flying animals of all time. They occupied the skies for much of the Mesozoic era and had the air to themselves unt...