Chauna chavaria (Crested Screamer) and Rhamphorhynchus (3D recon)

Modern Chauna chavaria, a cousin to modern ducks and geese, and Rhamphorhynchus, a Jurassic pterosaur. Pterosaurs show many structural convergences with modern birds. Both are flying animals and both possess a large brain. However, the details of the wing and the brain are quite different in the two lineages. The skull of Rhamphorhynchus shown here has huge optic lobes and a large cerebrum and cerebellum, for good vision and good sensory-muscular integration, but in a very different configuration than that of modern birds. Screamer is approximately 9 cm long; Rhamphorhynchus is approximately 9.6 cm long. (Screamer courtesy of Mr. Dave Dufeau, University of Texas at Austin, Rhamphorhynchus courtesy of Dr. Sankar Chatterjee, Texas Tech University)

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