Overview
- Ixalerpeton, a 233-million-year-old lagerpetid from southern Brazil, provides the first direct glimpse of early pterosaur-relative neuroanatomy.
- Researchers found enlarged optic lobes in lagerpetids but floccular expansion only in true pterosaurs, mapping a stepwise path toward powered flight.
- Pterosaurs retained notably modest brain sizes compared with birds, yet their overall brain shape most closely resembled small, bird‑like non-avian dinosaurs.
- The team concludes flight likely arose rapidly at pterosaur origin, with later brain expansion in both birds and pterosaurs tied more to cognition than to flying mechanics.
- The peer-reviewed study used microCT and 3D endocasts across more than three dozen species and appears in Current Biology (Nov. 26, 2025; DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2025.10.086).