Several myths promoted by the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) in their iconic and traditional mount of Pteranodon (Fig 1) need to stop.

I commented on the AMNH FB page with this pic on it. “It’s time to revise your Pteranodon mount and data. NO pterosaurs preserve bat-wing membranes attached to the ankles. Soft tissue specimens ALL have a narrow-chord wing, like a high-performance glider, stretched between the elbow and finger tip. This permits complete wing folding, without sag, like birds.

“We’ve known for 24 years that pterosaurs arose from Middle Triassic Cosesaurus, a small lepidosaur related to Sharovipteryx, Longisquama and Langobardisaurus. These taxa were bipedal and covered with fibers similar to those found in pterosaurs. These taxa had a prepubis, attenuated tail, procoelus vertebrae, pteroids, uropatagia and fibers trailing the forelimbs.

Archosaurs do not have a long finger four and toe five. Lepidosaurs do. Archosaurs do not have an interclavicle and central sternum. Lepidosaurs do. These are incorporated into the pterosaur sternal complex along with the clavicles. More data and citations can be found at ReptileEvolution online.”

PS Pteranodontids were sea-bird analogs soaring over the Late Cretaceous Niobrara. Big sea birds all have shallow chord long wings, ideal for soaring. None have floppy bat wings.

Some myths are hard to kill. This one needs to go. The AMNH should take the lead.

References Peters D 1995. Wing shape in pterosaurs. Nature 374, 315-316. Peters D 2000b. A Redescription of Four Prolacertiform Genera and Implications for Pterosaur Phylogenesis. Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia 106 (3): 293–336. Peters D 2002. A New Model for the Evolution of the Pterosaur Wing – with a twist. – Historical Biology 15: 277–301. Peters D 2007. The origin and radiation of the Pterosauria. In D. Hone ed. Flugsaurier. The Wellnhofer pterosaur meeting, 2007, Munich, Germany. p. 27. Peters D 2009. A reinterpretation of pteroid articulation in pterosaurs. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 29:1327-1330.

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