Pterodactylus is an extinct genus of pterosaurs. It is thought to contain only a single species, Pterodactylus antiquus, which was the first pterosaur to be named and identified as a flying reptile and one of the first prehistoric reptiles to ever be discovered.
Pterosaurs are an extinct clade of flying reptiles in the order Pterosauria. They existed during most of the Mesozoic: from the Late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous. Pterosaurs are the earliest vertebrates known to have evolved powered flight. Their wings were formed by a membrane of skin, muscle, and other tissues stretching from the ankles to a dramatically lengthened fourth finger.
Rhamphorhynchus is a genus of long-tailed pterosaurs in the Jurassic period. Less specialized than contemporary, short-tailed pterodactyloid pterosaurs such as Pterodactylus, it had a long tail, stiffened with ligaments, which ended in a characteristic soft-tissue tail vane. The mouth of Rhamphorhynchus housed needle-like teeth, which were angled forward, with a curved, sharp, beak-like tip lacking teeth, indicating a diet mainly of fish; indeed, fish and cephalopod remains are frequently found in Rhamphorhynchus abdominal contents, as well as in their coprolites.
Scaphognathus was a pterosaur that lived around Germany during the Late Jurassic. It had a wingspan of 0.9 m (3 ft).
Germanodactylus is a genus of germanodactylid pterodactyloid pterosaur from Upper Jurassic-age rocks of Germany, including the Solnhofen Limestone. Its specimens were long thought to pertain to Pterodactylus. The head crest of Germanodactylus is a distinctive feature.
Anhanguera is a genus of pterodactyloid pterosaur known from the Early Cretaceous Romualdo Formation of Brazil and the Late Cretaceous Kem Kem Group of Morocco. This pterosaur is closely related to Ornithocheirus, but belongs in the family Anhangueridae. The generic name comes from the Tupi words añanga, meaning "spirit protector of the animals" + wera "bygone".
Gnathosaurus is a genus of ctenochasmatid pterosaur containing two species: G. subulatus, named in 1833 from the Solnhofen Limestone of Germany, and G. macrurus, known from the Purbeck Limestone of the UK. Its fossil remains dated back to the Late Jurassic period.
Gallodactylidae is a group of pterosaurs within the suborder Pterodactyloidea. Gallodactylids differed from other related pterosaurs in several distinct features, including fewer than 50 teeth present only in the jaw tips, and rounded crests present on the rear portion of the skull and jaws but not near the ends of their snouts. At least some species possessed jaw flanges, possibly used to bissect hard-shelled prey.
Cycnorhamphus is a genus of gallodactylid ctenochasmatoid pterosaur from the Late Jurassic period of France and Germany, about 152 million years ago. It is synonymous with the genus Gallodactylus.
Diopecephalus is a genus of pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Lower Tithonian of the Lithographic Limestone, Bavaria, Germany. The type and only species is D. kochi, although the name has been applied to Pterodactylus longicollum, with longicollum erroneously listed as the type species.
Ctenochasmatoidea is a group of early pterosaurs within the suborder Pterodactyloidea. Their remains are usually found in what were once coastal or lake environments. They generally had long wings, long necks, and highly specialized teeth.
Prejanopterus is an extinct genus of pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Lower Cretaceous layers of the Leza Formation of La Rioja, Spain.
Euctenochasmatia is an extinct group of pterodactyloid pterosaurs. It was named by David Unwin in 2003 as the group that contains the most recent common ancestor of Pterodactylus and Ctenochasma, and all their descendants.
Barbosania is an extinct genus of crestless targaryendraconian pterosaur from the Cretaceous Romualdo Formation of the Santana Group of northeastern Brazil, dating to the Aptian to Albian.
Aurorazhdarcho is an extinct genus of ctenochasmatoid pterosaur known from the Late Jurassic period of what is now Bavaria, southern Germany.
Ardeadactylus is an extinct genus of ctenochasmatoid pterosaur known from the Late Jurassic Solnhofen limestone of Bavaria, southern Germany. It contains a single species, Ardeadactylus longicollum, which was originally thought to be a species of Pterodactylus, as P. longicollum.
Cimoliopterus is a genus of pterosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous in what is now England and the United States. The first known specimen, consisting of the front part of a snout including part of a crest, was discovered in the Grey Chalk Subgroup of Kent, England, and described as the new species Pterodactylus cuvieri in 1851. The specific name cuvieri honours the palaeontologist George Cuvier, whereas the genus Pterodactylus was then used for many pterosaur species that are not thought to be closely related today. It was among the first pterosaurs to be depicted as sculptures, in Crystal Palace Park in the 1850s. The species was subsequently assigned to various other genera, including Ornithocheirus and Anhanguera. In 2013, the species was moved to a new genus, as Cimoliopterus cuvieri; the generic name Cimoliopterus is derived from the Greek words for "chalk" and "wing". Other specimens and species have also been assigned to or synonymised with the species with various levels of certainty. In 2015, a snout discovered in the Britton Formation of Texas, US, was named as a new species in the genus, C. dunni; the specific name honours its collector, Brent Dunn.
Aerodactylus is a pterosaur genus containing a single species, Aerodactylus scolopaciceps, previously regarded as a species of Pterodactylus.
Forfexopterus is a genus of ctenochasmatid pterosaur from the Early Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation in China. It contains a single species, F. jeholensis, named from a mostly complete skeleton by Shunxing Jiang and colleagues in 2016. A second specimen, consisting of a wing, was described in 2020. While the first specimen is larger, it shows signs of being less mature than the second specimen, indicating that the developmental trajectories of Forfexopterus were variable. Like other ctenochasmatids, Forfexopterus had a long, low skull filled with many slender teeth; unlike other members of the group, however, it did not have a spatula-shaped snout tip or crests, and its teeth were more curved. A single characteristic distinguishes Forfexopterus from all other members of the wider group Archaeopterodactyloidea: of the four phalanx bones in its wing finger, the first was shorter than the second but longer than the third.
Liaodactylus is a genus of filter-feeding ctenochasmatid pterosaur from the Jurassic of China. The genus contains one species, L. primus, described by Zhou et al. in 2017. As an adaptation to filter-feeding, Liaodactylus had approximately 150 long, comb-like teeth packed closely together. It is both the earliest known ctenochasmatid and the first filter-feeding pterosaur from the Jurassic Tiaojishan Formation. Later and more specialized ctenochasmatids differ from Liaodactylus in having longer snouts, smaller openings in the skull, and more teeth. Within the Ctenochasmatidae, Liaodactylus was most closely related to the European Ctenochasma.
