First ancient flying reptiles were winners of increasing Triassic humid environments

Pterosaurs which dominated the skies of the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods first evolved to take to the air in warm and humid conditions during the Late Triassic, a new study suggests.

In a paper published in Nature Ecology and Evolution, a research team including academics from the University of Birmingham, University College London and Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg in Germany combined data on the distribution of fossils in the Triassic period with information on the ancient climate in the same areas.

The team focused on the distribution of two closely related groups, pterosaurs and lagerpetids. Living approximately 240 -201 million years ago, lagerpetids were a group of relatively small (rat-to-dog-sized) land- and tree-dwelling active reptiles. These small land-based reptiles are now considered the closest relatives to pterosaurs and, the study reveals, were able to tolerate a wider range of climate conditions than their close flying kin, including the arid areas of the ancient landmass Pangea. This broad tolerance resulted in a widespread distribution of this group.

Pterosaurs meanwhile appear to have been at first confined to the more humid conditions found in smaller areas of the ancient world, based on fossils found in modern day Italy and Austria, and southwestern U.S.A., all regions that at the time were close to the equator.

During the Late Triassic, climatic conditions changed across the globe, leading to a general increase in warm and humid conditions outside the equatorial belt. This became an opportunity that allowed the flying reptiles to rapidly spread across the globe including to high latitude areas such as what is now Greenland and South America.

Dr Davide Foffa from the University of Birmingham and corresponding author of the paper said:

“Pterosaurs capture the imagination, with the idea of terrifying reptiles dominating the airs at the time while dinosaurs were roaming the world. However, pterosaur origins are still wrapped in mystery. Our study adds new information to this puzzle, suggesting that their early evolution during the Triassic period into a dominant group may have been favoured by changing climates and environments.

Dr Emma Dunne from Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg and a co-author of the paper said:

“Climate change is a leading cause of biodiversity change, both in the present day and the geological past. However, it is only in the last few years [with advances in modelling methods] that palaeontologists are getting to grips with how climate change impacted the biodiversity of prominent fossil groups like the pterosaurs."

Dr Alessandro Chiarenza from the University College London and co-leading author of the paper said: “Taken together, ecological models and fossil data paint a coherent picture of pterosaur early evolution.”

”Lagerpetids thrived as generalists, while pterosaurs, initially confined to humid-tropical niches and perhaps limited flight performance, occupied equatorial treetops.” adds Chiarenza.

When global climates shifted and forested corridors opened, those same wings catapulted them into every corner of the planet and ultimately carried them through one of Earth’s greatest extinctions. What began as a tale of missing fossils is becoming a textbook example of how palaeoclimate, palaeoecology and evolutionary innovation intertwine to illuminate a patchy history that has intrigued palaeontologists for two centuries."