Fossil Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Pterodactyloids
Fossil range: Middle JurassicLate Cretaceous
Pterodactylus1
Gnathosaurus
Scientific classification

Order:

Pterosauria

Suborder:

Pterodactyloidea

Superfamilies:

Pterodactyloidea forms one of the two suborders of pterosaurs ("wing lizards"), and contains the most advanced members of this group of flying reptiles. They appeared during the middle Jurassic Period, and differ from the basal rhamphorhynchoidea by their short tails and long wing metacarpals (hand bones). The most advanced forms also lack teeth. Many species had well developed crests on the skull, a form of display taken to extremes in giant-crested forms like Nyctosaurus and Tupandactylus. Pterodactyloids (specifically the family Azhdarchidae) were the last surviving pterosaurs when the order became extinct at the end of the Cretaceous Period, together with the dinosaurs and most marine reptiles.

"Pterodactyl" is also a common term for pterodactyloid pterosaurs, though it can also be used to refer to pterosaurs in general or to Pterodactylus specifically. Well-known examples of pterodactyloids include Pterodactylus, Dsungaripterus, Pteranodon, and Quetzalcoatlus.

Classification[]

Taxonomy[]

Listing of families and superfamilies within the suborder Pterodactyloidea, after Unwin 2006.

Uncertain placement (incertae sedis): Araripedactylus, Wyomingopteryx, Bennettazhia, Dermodactylus, Haopterus, Mesadactylus, Criorhynchus.

References[]

  1. ^ Wang, X., A., W. A. Kellner, Z. Zhou, and D. A. Campos. (2008). "Discovery of a rare arboreal forest-dwelling flying reptile (Pterosauria, Pterodactyloidea) from China." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106(6): 1983–1987. doi:10.1073/pnas.0707728105
Advertisement