Editing Quetzalcoatlus (section)

===Later research===
[[Image:Life restoration of a group of giant azhdarchids, Quetzalcoatlus northropi, foraging on a Cretaceous fern prairie.png|thumb|330px|left|A 2008 [[Mark Witton]] depiction of ''Q. northropi'' illustrating his then-novel terrestrial stalker hypothesis. Though this theory gained wide acceptance, the anatomy depicted is now considered outdated in some respects.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Witton |first=Mark P. |title=The Palaeoartist's Handbook: recreating prehistoric animals in art |date=2018 |publisher=The Crowood press Ltd |isbn=978-1-78500-461-2 |location=Ramsbury, Marlborough}}</ref>]]
The expected further description implicated by Lawson never came. For the next 50 years, the material would remain under incomplete study, and few concrete anatomical details were documented within the literature. Much confusion surrounded the smaller individuals from Pterodactyl Ridge. In a 1981 article on pterosaurs, Langston expressed reservations whether they were truly the same species as the immense ''Q. northropi''.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last=Jr |first=Wann Langston |date=February 1, 1981 |title=Pterosaurs |url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/pterosaurs/ |access-date=January 25, 2025 |journal=Scientific American |volume=244 |issue=2 |pages=122–136 |language=en |doi=10.1038/scientificamerican0281-122|bibcode=1981SciAm.244b.122L }}</ref> In the meantime, Langston focused on the animal's publicity. He worked on a life-sized gliding replica of ''Quetzalcoatlus northropi'' with aeronautical engineer [[Paul MacCready]] between 1981 and 1985, promoting it in a dedicated IMAX film. The model was created to understand the flight of the animal — prior to Lawson's discovery such a large flier wasn't thought possible, and the subject remained controversial at the time. Furthermore, the model was intended to allow people to experience the animal in a more dynamic manner than a mere static display or film.<ref>Langston, W., Pausé, P. H., & Spears, R. G. (1986). Rebuilding the world's biggest flying creature: the second coming of Quetzalcoatlus northropi. Geology of the Big Bend Area and Solitario Dome, 125-28.</ref><ref name=bell2013/><ref name="maccready1985"/> Around this time he also created a skeletal mount of the genus that was exhibited at the Texas Memorial Museum.<ref name=bell2013>{{cite journal | url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/earth-and-environmental-science-transactions-of-royal-society-of-edinburgh/article/wann-langston-jr-a-life-amongst-bones/5838704B9E717EB6B8E05A39BAC68F73 | title=Wann Langston, Jr. – a life amongst bones | journal=Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh | last1=Bell | first1=Christopher J. | last2=Brown | first2=Matthew A. | last3=Dawson | first3=Mary R. | last4=Lundelius Jr. | first4=Ernest L. | year=2013 | volume=103 | issue=3–4 | pages=189–204 | doi=10.1017/S1755691013000443}}</ref>

The next scientific effort of note was a 1996 paper by Langston and pterosaur specialist [[Alexander Kellner]]. By this time, Langston was confident the smaller animals were a separate species. A full publication establishing such a species was still in preparation at the time, but due to the importance of the skull material for the understanding of [[azhdarchid]] anatomy, the skull anatomy was published first. In this publication, he animal was referred to as ''Quetzalcoatlus'' sp., a placeholder designation for material not assigned to any particularly valid species. Once again, the planned further publication failed to materialize for decades, and ''Quetzalcoatlus'' sp. remained in limbo.<ref name=andres2021/><ref name="kellner&langston1996">{{cite journal |last1=Kellner |first1=Alexander W. A. |last2=Langston |first2=Wann Jr. |year=1996 |title=Cranial remains of ''Quetzalcoatlus'' (Pterosauria, Azhdarchidae) from Late Cretaceous sediments of Big Bend National Park, Texas |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |volume=16 |issue=2 |pages=222–231 |bibcode=1996JVPal..16..222K |doi=10.1080/02724634.1996.10011310}}</ref> A publication on the bioaeromechanics of the genus was also planned by Langston and James Cunningham, but this failed to materialize and the partially completed manuscript later became lost.<ref name=padian2021/> Ultimately, a comprehensive publication on ''Quetzalcoatlus'' sp. would not appear before Langston's death in 2013. By this point he had produced many notes and individual descriptions, but had not begun writing any formal manuscript that could be published.<ref name=andres2021/>
[[File:Quetzalcoatlus lawsoni.png|thumb|Life reconstruction of ''Q. lawsoni''.]]
In 2021, a comprehensive description of the genus was finally published, the 19th entry in the Memoir series of special publications by the [[Society of Vertebrate Paleontology]] in the ''[[Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology]]''. It consisted of five studies published together.<ref name=preface>{{cite journal | title=Preface | journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology | year=2021 | volume=41 | issue=sup1 | pages=1 | doi=10.1080/02724634.2020.1853560 | last1=Brown | first1=Matthew A. | last2=Padian | first2=Kevin | bibcode=2021JVPal..41S...1B | doi-access=free }}</ref> Kevin Padian was the primary organizer of the project.<ref name=andres2021/> A paper on the history of discoveries in Big Bend National Park was authored by Matthew J. Brown, Chris Sagebiel, and Brian Andres. It focused on curating a comprehensive list of specimens belonging to each species to ''Quetzalcoatlus'' and the locality information of each within Big Bend.<ref name=brown2021/> Thomas Lehman contributed a study on the paleonvironment that ''Quetzalcoatlus'' would have resided within, based upon work he had begun with Langston as early as 1993.<ref name="lehman2021" /> Brian Andres published a study on the morphology and taxonomy of the genus, established the species ''Quetzalcoatlus lawsoni'' for the smaller animal that had gone for decades without a name. The specific name honoured Lawson, who discovered ''Quetzalcoatlus''. Despite not contributing directly to the written manuscript, the authors of the memoir and Langston's family agreed that he posthumously be considered a co-author due the basis of the work in the decades of research he dedicates to the subject.<ref name=andres2021/> Also authored by Andres was a phylogenetic study of ''Quetzacoatlus'' and its relationships within Pterosauria, with a focus on the persistence of many lineages into the [[Late Cretaceous]] contra classical interpretations of ''Quetzalcoatlus'' as the last of a dying lineage.<ref name="Andres-2021"/> Finally, a study on the functional morphology of the genus was authored by Padian, James Cunningham, and [[John Conway (palaeoartist)|John Conway]] (who contributed scientific illustrations and cover art to the Memoir<ref name=andres2021/>), with Langston once again considered a posthumous co-author due to his foundational work on the subject.<ref name="padian2021"/> Brown and Padian prefaced the Memoir, who once again emphasized their gratitude to Langston for his decades of work on the animal leading up to the publication.<ref name=preface/>