More on Nemicolopterus crypticus

A new species of miniature flying reptile that lived more than 120 million years ago has been unearthed in China, researchers announced today.

The mini-pterosaur, dubbed Nemicolopterus crypticus, had a wingspan of only 10 inches (25 centimeters)—about the size of a modern sparrow.

It would be interesting to follow up to see if all the mini pterosaurs were completely gone - as I understand NOW that they are believed to be the case - by the end of the Cretaceous. If there were mini pterosaurs at the KT Boundary, it might still be that they just got unlucky: 50% of mammal species died at the KT Boundary, remember, as well as nontrivial numbers of birds. However, as it stands right now, it looks like the pterosaurs were too large to survive as adults at that point: they starved and froze.

However, it should be remembered that the pterosaurs were fundamentally different fliers and animals that even their fellow archosaur flying relatives: they were hatched able to fly right away. Furthermore, a lot of "species" that were originally identified from fossils for pterosaurs have turned out to be the same species of different ages. This has interesting implications for their paleobiology. It very well may be that the giant pterosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous were actually filling several niches with a single species as they grew. The young might well have competed with the birds as insectivores. The mature, but smaller to mid sized ones might have been active hunters of smaller to medium sized prey like the raptors of today. The larger, giant sized individuals might have been stork-like fishers, as Darren Naish has mentioned, or scavengers. This is not all that different than what the Komodo Dragon does now. This would help explain why there were larger sized pterosaurs rather than several different species of the buggers at or near the KT: the ones that grew into mongo sized ones could compete with those that were minisized as well as have access to other food sources later in life.

This would also help explain why they died out: there were less of them to just game the odds statistically when their turn at playing the mass extinction roulette came. One species that fills 3+ niches means there are 1/3 (or less) the species to have some attempt at survival. It also means that once you cross out of a age related niche you might well be in trouble to find food in the aftermath of the bollide impact. Bug eating works well, but if that's only available to you when you're not sexually mature...ah frakk!

So, if no one else has marked their territory on this hypothesis as to why the pterosaurs failed to make it across the KT, call it mine and send me a more experienced collaborator to try to guide me in testing it for publication. ;)