Neuroanatomical convergence between pterosaurs and non-avian paravians in the evolution of flight
The oldest known pterosaurs lived approximately 220 million years ago<sup>1</sup> and were already animals capable of powered flight,<sup>2</sup> an ability that later evolved independently among paravian dinosaurs, the group that includes living birds and their closest non-avian relatives.<sup>3</sup> Flight is a complex locomotory mode that requires physiological adaptations<sup>4</sup> and a dramatic transformation of the body plan, including changes in body proportions, specialized integument, and acquisition of novel neurosensory capabilities.<sup>5</sup> Although pterosaurs and birds developed distinct skeletal and integumentary adaptations for flight, they are hypothesized to share neuroanatomical traits linked to aerial locomotion.<sup>6</sup><sup>,</sup><sup>7</sup><sup>,</sup><sup>8</sup><sup>,</sup><sup>9</sup> Here, we use geometric morphometrics and phylogenetically informed analyses to assess the origin and evolution of brain shape and size in pterosaurs, tracing the transformation from their non-volant closest relatives (lagerpetids), and compare their trajectory with that in the dinosaur-bird transition. Pterosaurs have globular brains with moderately enlarged hemispheres, more closely resembling non-avian paravians such as troodontids and Archaeopteryx lithographica than living birds. Whereas birds inherited their basic brain structure from their dinosaurian ancestors,<sup>10</sup><sup>,</sup><sup>11</sup><sup>,</sup><sup>12</sup><sup>,</sup><sup>13</sup><sup>,</sup><sup>14</sup><sup>,</sup><sup>15</sup><sup>,</sup><sup>16</sup><sup>,</sup><sup>17</sup> pterosaurs share only the ventrolateralization of the optic lobe with their closest non-volant relatives, the lagerpetids. This suggests that, in contrast to the bird-line archosaurs, where exaptation may have played a central role in the stepwise assembly of the avian brain configuration, brain evolution in pterosaurs seems to have unfolded rapidly at the origin of flight.
Authors
- Max C. Langer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1009-4605)
- M. Belén von Baczko (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2570-3418)
- Alan H. Turner (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4164-6727)
- Ingmar Werneburg (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1359-2036)
- Roger Benson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8244-6177)
- Mario Bronzati (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1542-3199)
- Martín D. Ezcurra (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6000-6450)
- Felipe C. Montefeltro (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6519-8546)
- Julia B. Desojo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2739-3276)
- Rodrigo Temp Müller (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8894-9875)
- Michelle R. Stocker (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6473-8691)
- Lawrence M. Witmer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7610-0118)
- Fabien Knoll (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7822-8740)
- Stephan Lautenschlager (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3472-814X)
- Sterling J. Nesbitt (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7017-1652)
- Matteo Fabbri (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1257-1594)
- Akinobu Watanabe (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5057-4772)
- Bhart‐Anjan S. Bhullar (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0838-8068)
Institutions
- Universidade de Ribeirão Preto (BR)
- Natural History Museum (GB)
- American Museum of Natural History (US)
- Johns Hopkins University (US)
- Universidade de São Paulo (BR)
- Johns Hopkins Medicine (US)
- Whitney Museum of American Art (US)
- Universidade Estadual da Zona Oeste (BR)
- Universidade Federal de Santa Maria (BR)
- Bernardino Rivadavia Natural Sciences Museum (AR)
- Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment (DE)
- Ohio University (US)
- Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (ES)
- Robert S. Peabody Museum of Archaeology (US)
- Hospital Bandeirantes (BR)
- Stony Brook University (US)
- University of Birmingham (GB)
- University of Tübingen (DE)
- Virginia Tech (US)
- Universidad Nacional de La Plata (AR)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Current Biology
- Published
- 2025-11-26
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2025.10.086
- Primary Topic
- Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Science Foundation
- Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung
- Paleontological Society
- Australian Government
- European Commission
- Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo
- Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico
- Vetenskapsrådet
- Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos
- Agencia Estatal de Investigación