pterosaurus

pterosaurus (plural pterosauruses or pterosauri)

1. Synonym of pterosaur.
   • 1906, Conrad Guenther, translated by Joseph McCabe, “Reptiles and Amphibians”, in Darwinism and the Problems of Life: A Study of Familiar Animal Life, London: A. Owen & Co. , page 120:

     The pterosauri flew from tree to tree, spreading out the flying membrane that stretched from their enormously long fifth finger to the legs, and even to the tail.

   • 1959 April 14, Ernesto Ruffini, translated by Francis O’Hanlon, “Proofs Adduced in Favor of Evolution”, in The Theory of Evolution Judged by Reason and Faith, New York, N.Y.: Joseph F. Wagner, Inc.; London: B. Herder, pages 18–19:

     Now, according to the geological successions, we have, first of all, the invertebrates (Protozoic Epoch—Cambrian Period), then the vertebrates, and these in the following order: first, the Cyclostomes (Silurian), then the cartilaginous fish (Devonian), then the stegocephalian amphibians (Carboniferous) , followed by the reptiles, whose apogee is reached in the Secondary, or Mesozoic, Age with the ichthyosauri, the stegosauri and the pterosauri:

   • 1984, Martin Crouch, Robert Porter, “Ideology and the Russian Tradition”, in Understanding Soviet Politics through Literature: A Book of Readings, London: George Allen & Unwin, →ISBN, page 19:

     We’re interested in the last, the Cainozoic era. This is the era that really concerns us. This was the time when the pterodactyls and pterosauri flew south.

   • 1987, Alberto Manguel, Gianni Guadalupi, “Dreams, Lake of”, in The Dictionary of Imaginary Places, expanded edition, San Diego, Calif.: Harvest/HBJ, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, →ISBN, page 429, columns 2–3:

     Or, while marvelling at the ingenuity of Nature, one can sing incantations that cause the clouds to assume fantastic shapes: dinosaurs, glyptodons and pterosauruses frolic across the sky.

   • 1993, Linda Ward Beech, James Beers, Ronald L. Cramer, W. Dorsey Hammond, Lida F. Lim, Patricia Muncy, John Prejza, Jr., DeWayne Triplett, Flight (Scott, Foresman Spelling), Glenview, Ill.: Scott, Foresman and Company, →ISBN, page 140:

     Pterosauruses are giant birds that lived during prehistoric times. In a book called Dinosaurs in Your Backyard, author William Mannetti tries to prove why the Pteranodon is the most interesting kind of pterosaurus.

   • 1994, Debby Slier, Dinosaurs (World of Knowledge), New York, N.Y.: Modern Publishing, →ISBN, page 15, column 2:

     The muscles that pterosauruses used to fly were not as developed as those that birds use today.

   • 2002, Jacob S. Siegel, “ Redistricting”, in Applied Demography: Applications to Business, Government, Law, and Public Policy, San Diego, Calif.: Academic Press, →ISBN, page 548:

     Examples of gerrymandering still abound, with many districts being shaped like forms of animal life, both extinct and contemporary, such as snakes, tadpoles, and pterosauruses.

   • 2010 August, J.T. Wilson, chapter 7, in Cemetery Drive, Andover, Hants.: Hirst Publishing, →ISBN, pages 94–95:

     They came onto a stretch of beach which looked onto the Bismarck Sea and onto the Pacific Ocean. Turning back, you could still make out the outline of the mainland, volcanic mountains rising above the cityscape. Alexa wondered what the point of all this was, whether Robbie had come here to be eaten by pterosauruses or tyrannoraptors or whatever they were called, it was Donny who had been into dinosaurs, not her.

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

• IPA^(key): /ˌpteː.roːˈsɑu̯.rʏs/, (Southern) , (Northern)
• Hyphenation: pte‧ro‧sau‧rus
• Rhymes: -ɑu̯rʏs

pterosaurus m (plural pterosaurussen)

1. pterosaur, member of the order Pterosauria

   Synonym: pterosauriër