Pterosaur footprints discovery leads to surprising conclusion

For decades, pterosaurs were cast as soaring shadows above the dinosaur-dominated world. These flying reptiles, icons of the Mesozoic skies, seemed distant from the muddy, grounded lives of their land-based cousins.

But a new study from the University of Leicester is challenging that image. Drawing on more than 160-million-year-old fossilized footprints, the researchers have made a significant breakthrough. These prints reveal a hidden side of pterosaur life – one where they walked, hunted, and thrived on solid ground.

Published in Current Biology, the study identifies the makers of ancient tracks once thought enigmatic. With 3D modeling, statistical analysis, and close anatomical comparisons, the team linked three distinct track types to specific pterosaur groups.

The findings open up a deeper understanding of how these animals moved and evolved, showing a major ecological shift during the mid-Mesozoic period.

Pterosaurs were not just fliers

The popular view of pterosaurs has long focused on their aerial prowess.

They were seen as ocean-faring gliders or cliff-dwelling fliers, rarely imagined among swampy flats or dusty inland habitats. Preservation bias reinforced this picture – bones were often found in marine rocks, while trackways were rarer and harder to interpret.

But the new research confronts that bias. It shows that by the Middle Jurassic, some pterosaur groups had firmly established themselves on land. Quadrupedal walking was not just possible – it was a widespread and successful mode of movement.

“Footprints offer a unique opportunity to study pterosaurs in their natural environment. They reveal not only where these creatures lived and how they moved, but also offer clues about their behavior and daily activities in ecosystems that have long since vanished,” noted lead author Robert Smyth, a doctoral researcher at the Centre for Palaeobiology and Biosphere Evolution, University of Leicester.

Tracks tied to three pterosaur groups

The team identified three distinct footprint types, each linked to a major pterosaur clade: ctenochasmatoids, dsungaripterids, and neoazhdarchians.

These prints vary in shape, size, and distribution. Yet together, they illustrate a dramatic expansion of pterosaur diversity into land-based ecosystems during the Jurassic and Cretaceous.

Using both multivariate analysis and anatomical synapomorphies (shared traits), the team matched the fossil tracks with body fossils. Many of the prints retained fine details, such as joint pads, heel structures, and even traces of webbing between toes.

“Finally, 88 years after first discovering pterosaur tracks, we now know exactly who made them and how,” said co-author Dr. David Unwin from the School of Museum Studies, University of Leicester.

Pterosaur footprints in coastal wetlands

Ctenochasmatoids, known for their elongated jaws and filter-feeding teeth, left the most abundant tracks. Their footprints are broad, triangular, and often display splayed metatarsals and impressions of webbing.

These features suggest they walked with plantigrade feet and likely moved through shallow water environments, such as tidal flats and lagoons.

Their tracks are found in formations across Europe and North America and often occur in large numbers. This suggests these pterosaurs were not just visitors but key players in coastal ecosystems.

The track features align with known skeletal remains of species like Ctenochasma elegans, which had long metatarsals and short toes ideal for walking in wet sediment.

Interestingly, these footprints show that metatarsal I was longer than the others – a rare trait among reptiles but common in ctenochasmatoids. This makes their tracks relatively easy to distinguish from those of crocodiles or other reptiles.

Others walked along lakes

Found only in China’s Tugulu Group, dsungaripterid tracks are rarer but highly distinctive. These pterosaurs had powerful jaws with beak-like tips and large crushing teeth in the rear.

Their tracks feature a short digit I and longer outer digits, forming a unique footprint shape that reflects their specialized foot anatomy.

These prints appear alongside skeletal remains of Dsungaripterus weii and Noripterus complicidens, supporting their identification. The sediment they walked on – fine-grained mudstones and sandstones – suggests they roamed deltaic and lakeshore environments.

The matching between tracks and bones in this case is unusually strong. It provides one of the clearest examples of a direct connection between movement traces and the animals that made them.

Neoazhdarchians walked the land

Neoazhdarchians, which include giants like Quetzalcoatlus, left narrow, elongated tracks often showing deep, round heel impressions.

Their footprints appear across Asia, Africa, and the Americas. These animals had long legs and necks, suggesting they hunted like modern ground-foraging birds, perhaps stalking prey in open environments.

Unlike the aquatic habitats favored by other pterosaurs, neoazhdarchian tracks are found mostly in continental settings.

This includes plains, deserts, and dry riverbeds. Their stride patterns often match those of large dinosaurs, hinting at shared migration routes or similar responses to terrain.

These trackways typically lack deep impressions from the toes, suggesting that the feet had minimal soft padding and were adapted for efficient walking over firm ground.

Pterosaurs footprints tell a story

Tracks are not just impressions in stone – they are records of action. They show how animals lived in their habitats, what surfaces they preferred, and sometimes even how they interacted with others. Unlike bones, which can be moved and broken, tracks stay where they were made.

This study confirms that the fossil track record can complement and even extend the fossil bone record. It fills gaps, clarifies behaviors, and adds context to the static images offered by skeletons.

“Tracks are often overlooked when studying pterosaurs, but they provide a wealth of information about how these creatures moved, behaved, and interacted with their environments,” Smyth concludes.

“By closely examining footprints, we can now discover things about their biology and ecology that we can’t learn anywhere else.”

No tracks from fliers

One of the most striking findings is what isn’t there. Tracks from early pterosaurs – those before the Middle Jurassic – are entirely absent.

This supports the idea that these species were arboreal or scansorial, rarely walking on flat land. Their limbs and feet were poorly suited to ground movement, and they likely spent most of their lives in trees or cliffs.

Also missing are footprints from groups like tapejarids and pteranodontians. These pterosaurs, though well known from bones, appear poorly adapted to life on the ground.

Their feet lacked the features seen in trackmakers, which may explain why their prints are absent from fossil surfaces.

Land walking changed evolution

This track-based approach has revealed a major shift in pterosaur evolution.

By the Middle Jurassic, the evolution of longer limbs and more stable feet allowed some pterosaurs to take advantage of ground-based habitats. They diversified and spread, becoming important members of land-based ecosystems.

The study shows that pterosaur terrestrial invasion was not a random occurrence. It was a structured expansion, involving specific clades with shared foot traits. These groups walked with purpose and left behind tracks that tell the story of their hidden lives.

What tracks still reveal

As more footprints are discovered and linked to their makers, the image of pterosaurs continues to evolve. Far from being limited to flight, many were capable terrestrial animals that played vital roles in their environments.

This study not only repositions pterosaurs in the Mesozoic world – it also highlights the power of trace fossils to reveal secrets that bones alone can’t show.

And perhaps most exciting of all, it suggests there’s much more to find – not just in the skies of prehistory, but in the ground beneath their feet.

The study is published in the journal Current Biology.

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