It can be inferred from the passage that scientists now generally agree that the:

Enormous wingspan of the pterosaurs enabled them to fly great distances

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Structure of the skeleton of the pterosaurs suggests a close evolutionary relationship to bats

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Fossil remains of the pterosaurs reveal how they solved the problem of powered flight

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Pterosaurs were reptiles

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Solution

The correct option is D
Pterosaurs were reptiles

The first line of the second paragraph states that “Perhaps the least controversial assertion about the pterosaurs is that they were reptiles. Furthermore, throughout the passage, the author has suggested evidences which prove the resemblances of pterosaurs with the entire clan of reptiles, thus making answer option (d) the correct answer choice.

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Similar questions

It can be inferred from the passage that which of the following is characteristic of the pterosaurs?

Read the following passage and answer the question that follows.

The fossil remains of the first flying vertebrates, the pterosaurs, have intrigued paleontologists for more than two centuries. How such large creatures, which weighed in some cases as much as a piloted hang glider and had wingspans from 8 to 12 meters, solved the problems of powered flight, and exactly what these creatures were—reptiles or birds—are among the questions scientists have puzzled over.

Perhaps the least controversial assertion about the pterosaurs is that they were reptiles. Their skulls, pelvises, and hind feet are reptilian. The anatomy of their wings suggests that they did not evolve into the class of birds. In pterosaurs a greatly elongated fourth finger of each forelimb supported a wing-like membrane. The other fingers were short and reptilian, with sharp claws. In birds the second finger is the principal strut of the wing, which consists primarily of feathers. If the pterosaurs walked on all fours, the three short fingers may have been employed for grasping. When a pterosaur walked or remained stationary, the fourth finger, and with it the wing, could only turn upward in an extended inverted V-shape along each side of the animal’s body.

Although scales typically cover reptiles, the pterosaurs probably had hairy coats. T. H. Huxley reasoned that flying vertebrates must have been warm-blooded because flying implies a high rate of metabolism, which in turn implies a high internal temperature. Huxley speculated that a coat of hair would insulate against loss of body heat and might streamline the body to reduce drag in flight. The recent discovery of a pterosaur specimen covered in long, dense, and relatively thick hairlike fossil material was the first clear evidence that his reasoning was correct.

According to the passage, why did the pterosaurs have hairy coats?

Q. According to the passage, the skeleton of a pterosaur can be distinguished from that of a bird by the:

Q. The author views the idea that the pterosaurs became airborne by rising into light winds created by waves as:

Some dinosaurs had feathers although they could not fly and birds have feathers that help them to fly. In the context of evolution, this means that :
(a) reptiles have evolved from birds
(b) there is no evolutionary connection between reptiles and birds
(c) feathers are homologous structures in both the organisms
(d) birds have evolved from reptiles

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