BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Flying reptiles just got bigger: "Flying reptiles just got bigger
By Jonathan Amos
BBC News science reporter, Dublin
Scientists think pterosaurs could inform modern aircraft design (Image: Luis Rey)
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Scientists are only now starting to recognise the astonishing size reached by pterosaurs, the flying reptiles that lived at the time of the dinosaurs.
New discoveries in the Americas suggest some had wingspans of 18m (60ft).
But there was nothing ugly about the way they moved through the air, according to expert Dr David Martill, of the University of Portsmouth.
Their ability to utilise air currents, thermals and ground effects would astonish aeroplane designers, he said.
'Pterosaurs were beautifully engineered,' he told BBC News."
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