Long-time readers will recall my few articles about the Peter Wellnhofer pterosaur meeting [see links below], held at the Bayerische Staatssammlung für Paläontologie und Geologie (Bavarian State Palaeontological Collection – BSPG) in Munich in 2007. The meeting, organised by Dr Dave Hone, was attended by most of the world’s pterosaur workers, and was planned to be the first in a series of regular events (the next pterosaur meeting is due for 2010, and will be held in Beijing).

The plan back in 2007 was to produce a special tribute volume of the BSPG’s in-house technical journal (Zitteliana) devoted entirely to pterosaurs: that is, containing contributions from the researchers who attended. Most of these contributions would represent published versions of the talks and posters presented at the meeting. The good – albeit very, very belated – news is that this volume did come to fruition, and was published way back in December 2008. It’s Zitteliana Series B, Vol. 28, titled ‘Flugsaurier: Pterosaur Papers in Honour of Peter Wellnhofer’. Now is the time to order it, unless you’ve done so already. It’s VERY cheap (comparatively). Needless to say, it’s a must-have for anyone interested in pterosaurs, or indeed in Mesozoic reptiles or the evolution of flying tetrapods in general.

Several papers are particularly worthy of note and deserving of special mention. Among the most useful is a compendium of pterosaur occurrences from around the world. Produced by Paul Barrett and colleagues, it conforms in style with the dinosaur distribution chapter of The Dinosauria and should serve as a primary research tool for studies on pterosaur distribution and diversity. At least one study (Butler et al. 2009) has already employed it (any others?). Mark Witton’s paper on mass estimates is also particularly good (and the fact that Mark is a personal acquaintance and colleague of mine is completely irrelevant), as is Mike Habib’s analysis of possible quadrupedal launch behaviour. One new name is coined: Uktenadactylus Rodrigues & Kellner, 2008. This is for the Texan ornithocheirid originally described as Coloborhynchus wadleighi Lee, 1994. Papers on pterosaur ichnology, egg structure, phylogeny, origins and taxonomy are also included. A full listing of the contents was provided here by Dave Hone [title slide of my BSPG talk shown below: I couldn't produce a manuscript in time for the volume, unfortunately].

It’s worth stating again: anyone with a serious interest in pterosaurs, or in vertebrate flight or Mesozoic reptiles in general, really must get a copy. So… how do you get it? Back when the volume was first available it couldn’t be ordered online – a pretty surprising and anachronistic state of affairs in 21st century western Europe… unfortunately this still seems to be the case: there’s no webpage that takes online orders (the journal’s homepage is here, but doesn’t include Vol. 28 in the list of issues that can be ordered!). But all is not lost – all you need to do is email Andreas Trenkle (andreas@trenkle-buch.de), and let him know that you want to pay online.

Again I’ll note that the volume is very cheap: 29 Euros (not including postage costs), which is equivalent to $43 or so, or £26 if you’re British. It’s also attractive, with a very high production quality and a pretty cover (shown at top). The print-run for the issue is small, and it is likely that, once the word really gets out, stocks will be rather limited, so I recommend that you act now.

Finally, my honest apologies to Dave Hone (and to everyone else involved) for the unbelievable delay in my posting of this advert/review. I blame the rest of Tetrapoda. Except geckos.

PS – I only just remembered that I submitted an article on the BSPG pterosaur meeting to Palaeontological Association Newsletter. Does anyone know if this ever got published – if so I haven’t seen it.

For previous Tet Zoo articles on pterosaur see…

• The Wellnhofer pterosaur meeting, part I
• The Wellnhofer pterosaur meeting, part II
• The Wellnhofer pterosaur meeting, part III
• Crato Formation fossils and the new tapejarids
• Terrestrial stalking azhdarchids, the paper
• Pterosaurs breathed in bird-like fashion and had inflatable air sacs in their wings
• A month in dinosaurs (and pterosaurs): 4, flaplings and head-sails anew
• A month in dinosaurs (and pterosaurs): 5, pterosaurs vs birds, or not… or is it?
• Darwinopterus, the remarkable transitional pterosaur

Ref – -

Butler, R. J., Barrett, P. M., Nowbath, S. & Upchurch, P. 2009. Estimating the effects of the rock record on pterosaur diversity patterns: implications for hypotheses of bird/pterosaur competitive replacement. Paleobiology 35, 432-446.