Editing Pterosaur (section)

==Cultural significance==
{{anchor|In popular culture}}
[[File:Pterosaurs on South Bank.jpg|thumb|''Quetzalcoatlus'' models in [[South Bank]], created by Mark Witton for the Royal Society's 350th anniversary]]
Pterosaurs have been a staple of popular culture for as long as their cousins the dinosaurs, though they are usually not featured as prominently in films, literature or other art. While the depiction of dinosaurs in popular media has changed radically in response to advances in paleontology, a mainly outdated picture of pterosaurs has persisted since the mid-20th century.<ref name=honepterosaurculture/>
[[File:When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth (1970) trailer - Rhamphorhynchus 2.png|thumb|left|Scene from ''[[When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth]]'' depicting an outsized ''[[Rhamphorhynchus]]'']]
The vague generic term "pterodactyl" is often used for these creatures. The animals depicted in fiction and pop culture frequently represent either the ''[[Pteranodon]]'' or (non-pterodactyloid) ''[[Rhamphorhynchus]]'', or a fictionalized hybrid of the two.<ref name=honepterosaurculture>Hone, D. (2010). [http://www.pterosaur.net/popular_culture.php "Pterosaurs In Popular Culture."] ''Pterosaur.net'', Accessed 27 August 2010.</ref> Many children's toys and cartoons feature "pterodactyls" with ''Pteranodon''-like crests and long, ''[[Rhamphorhynchus]]''-like tails and teeth, a combination that never existed in nature. However, at least one pterosaur ''did'' have both the ''Pteranodon''-like crest and teeth: ''[[Ludodactylus]]'', whose name means "toy finger" for its resemblance to old, inaccurate children's toys.<ref name=MFDB00>Frey, E., Martill, D., and Buchy, M. (2003). "A new crested ornithocheirid from the Lower Cretaceous of northeastern Brazil and the unusual death of an unusual pterosaur" in: Buffetaut, E., and Mazin, J.-M. (eds.). ''Evolution and Palaeobiology of Pterosaurs''. ''Geological Society Special Publication'' '''217''': 56–63. {{ISBN|1-86239-143-2}}.</ref> Pterosaurs have sometimes been incorrectly identified as (the ancestors of) [[bird]]s, though birds are [[Theropoda|theropod]] dinosaurs and not descendants of pterosaurs.

Pterosaurs were used in fiction in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's 1912 novel ''[[The Lost World (Doyle novel)|The Lost World]]'' and its [[The Lost World (1925 film)|1925 film adaptation]]. They appeared in a number of films and television programs since, including the 1933 film ''[[King Kong (1933 film)|King Kong]]'', and 1966's ''[[One Million Years B.C.]]'' In the latter, animator [[Ray Harryhausen]] had to add inaccurate bat-like wing fingers to his stop motion models in order to keep the membranes from falling apart, though this particular error was common in art even before the film was made. [[Rodan]], a fictional giant monster (or ''[[kaiju]]'') which first appeared in the 1956 film ''[[Rodan (film)|Rodan]]'', is portrayed as an enormous irradiated species of ''Pteranodon''.{{sfn|Berry|2005|p=452}}<ref name=Thomas2020>Thomas, H.N. (2020). [https://jgeekstudies.org/2020/07/05/the-one-born-of-fire-a-pterosaurological-analysis-of-rodan "The One Born of Fire: a pterosaurological analysis of Rodan"]. ''Journal of Geek Studies'' '''7''': 53–59.</ref> Rodan has appeared in multiple Japanese [[Godzilla (franchise)|''Godzilla'' films]] released during the 1960s, 1970s, 1990s, and 2000s, and also appeared in the 2019 American-produced film ''[[Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019 film)|Godzilla: King of the Monsters]]''.<ref name=Thomas2020/><ref>{{cite web|last=Gonzales|first=Dave|url=https://www.thrillist.com/entertainment/nation/best-godzilla-movies-monster-fights|title=A Monster-Sized Breakdown of Every Insane 'Godzilla' Movie|date=October 12, 2016|website=[[Thrillist]]|access-date=July 11, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Sharf|first=Zack|url=https://www.indiewire.com/2018/12/godzilla-king-of-the-monsters-trailer-mothra-rodan-1202026840/|title='Godzilla: King of the Monsters' Trailer Turns Mothra, Rodan, and More Into Epic Spectacle |format=video|date=December 10, 2018|website=[[IndieWire]]|access-date=July 11, 2019}}</ref>
[[File:Paleoart_reconstruction_of_Vesperopterylus.png|thumb|''[[Versperopterylus]]'' is one of the only pterosaurs with grasping feet, despite popular depictions of them on many pterosaurs]] The [[Nazg%C3%BBl#Steeds|Fell Beast]]s of [[J.R.R. Tolkien]]'s ''[[Lord of the Rings]]'' are often understood as "pterosaur-like", although Tolkien himself did deny they were actual pterosaurs.
After the 1960s, pterosaurs remained mostly absent from notable American film appearances until 2001's ''[[Jurassic Park III]]''. Paleontologist Dave Hone noted that the pterosaurs in this film had not been significantly updated to reflect modern research. Errors persisting were teeth while toothless ''Pteranodon'' was intended to be depicted, nesting behavior that was known to be inaccurate by 2001, and leathery wings, rather than the taut membranes of muscle fiber required for pterosaur flight.<ref name=honepterosaurculture/> Petrie from ''[[The Land Before Time]]'' (1988), is a notable example from an animated film.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mansour |first1=David |title=From Abba to Zoom A Pop Culture Encyclopedia of the Late 20th Century |date=2005 |publisher=Andrews MacMeel Publishing |page=272}}</ref>

In most media appearances, pterosaurs are depicted as [[piscivore]]s, not reflecting their full dietary variation. They are also often shown as aerial predators similar to [[Bird of prey|birds of prey]], grasping human victims with talons on their feet. However, only the small [[anurognathid]] ''[[Vesperopterylus]]'' and small [[wukongopterid]] ''[[Kunpengopterus]]''<ref name="Zhouetal2021">{{Cite journal|last1=Zhou |first1=X. |last2=Pêgas |first2=R. V. |last3=Ma |first3=W. |last4=Han |first4=G. |last5=Jin |first5=X. |last6=Leal |first6=M. E. C. |last7=Bonde |first7=N. |last8= Kobayashi |first8=Y. |last9=Lautenschlager |first9=S. |last10=Wei |first10=X. |last11=Shen |first11=C. |last12=Ji |first12=S. |title=A new darwinopteran pterosaur reveals arborealism and an opposed thumb |year=2021 |journal=[[Current Biology]] |volume= 31|issue=11 |pages=2429–2436.e7 |doi=10.1016/j.cub.2021.03.030 |pmid=33848460 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2021CBio...31E2429Z }}</ref> are known to possess prehensile feet and hands respectively; all other known pterosaurs have flat, plantigrade feet with no opposable toes, and the feet are generally proportionally small, at least in the case of the Pteranodontia.<ref name="myths" />