Genus of pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Late Jurassic
For other uses, see Pterodactyl (disambiguation).
Pterodactyl is also an informal name for members of the order Pterosauria.
Pterodactylus
Temporal range: Early Tithonian, 150.8–148.5 Ma
PreꞒ
Ꞓ
O
S
D
C
P
T
J
K
Pg
N
↓
Sub-adult type specimen of P. antiquus, Bavarian State Collection for Palaeontology and Geology
Scientific classification
Domain:
Eukaryota
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Order:
†Pterosauria
Suborder:
†Pterodactyloidea
Clade:
†Euctenochasmatia
Genus:
†Pterodactylus Cuvier, 1809
Type species
†Ornithocephalus antiquus
Sömmerring, 1812
Species
†P. antiquus (Sömmerring, 1812)
†P. kochi? (Wagner, 1837)
†P. scolopaciceps? (Meyer, 1860)
Synonyms
Genus synonymy
Ornithocephalus Sömmering, 1812
Pterotherium Fischer, 1813[1]
Macrotrachelus Giebel, 1852
Diopecephalus? Seeley, 1871
Aerodactylus? Vidovic & Martill, 2014
Species synonymy
Ornithocephalus antiquus Sömmering, 1812
Pterodactylus longirostris Cuvier, 1819
Ornithocephalus longirostris (Cuvier, 1819)
Macrotrachelus longirostris (Cuvier, 1819)
Pterodactylus crocodilocephaloides Ritgen, 1826
Ornithocephalus kochi? Wagner, 1837
Diopecephalus kochi? (Wagner, 1837)
Pterodactylus spectabilis Meyer, 1861
Pterodactylus westmani Wiman, 1925
Pterodactylus cormoranus Döderlein, 1929
Aerodactylus scolopaciceps (Meyer, 1860)
Pterodactylus (from Ancient Greek πτεροδάκτυλος (pterodáktylos) 'winged finger'[2]) is a genus of extinct 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.
Fossil remains of Pterodactylus have primarily been found in the Solnhofen limestone of Bavaria, Germany, which dates from the Late Jurassic period (Tithonian stage), about 150.8 to 148.5 million years ago. More fragmentary remains of Pterodactylus have tentatively been identified from elsewhere in Europe and in Africa.[3]
Pterodactylus was a generalist carnivore that probably fed on a variety of invertebrates and vertebrates. Like all pterosaurs, Pterodactylus had wings formed by a skin and muscle membrane stretching from its elongated fourth finger to its hind limbs. It was supported internally by collagen fibres and externally by keratinous ridges. Pterodactylus was a small pterosaur compared to other famous genera such as Pteranodon and Quetzalcoatlus, and it also lived earlier, during the Late Jurassic period, while both Pteranodon and Quetzalcoatlus lived during the Late Cretaceous. Pterodactylus lived alongside other small pterosaurs such as the well-known Rhamphorhynchus, as well as other genera such as Scaphognathus, Anurognathus and Ctenochasma. Pterodactylus is classified as an early-branching member of the ctenochasmatid lineage, within the pterosaur clade Pterodactyloidea.[4][5]
^Fischer von Waldheim, Gotthelf (1813). Zoognosia tabulis synopticis illustrata : in usum praelectionum mperalis Medico-Chirurgicae Mosquenis edita. Vol. 1. Mosquae [Moscow]: Typis Nicolai S. Vsevolozsky. p. 466.
^Gudger, E.W. (1944). "The Earliest Winged Fish-Catchers". The Scientific Monthly. 59 (2): 120–129. Bibcode:1944SciMo..59..120G. JSTOR 18398.
^Schweigert, G. (2007). "Ammonite biostratigraphy as a tool for dating Upper Jurassic lithographic limestones from South Germany – first results and open questions" (PDF). Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, Abhandlungen. 245 (1): 117–125. doi:10.1127/0077-7749/2007/0245-0117.
^Cite error: The named reference unwin2003 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Cite error: The named reference longrichetal2018 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
More fragmentary remains of Pterodactylus have tentatively been identified from elsewhere in Europe and in Africa. Pterodactylus was a generalist carnivore...
species of pterosaurs previously classified in the genus Pterodactylus. It may refer to: "Pterodactylus" giganteus (Oken, 1819): Originally Ornithocephalus...
new specimen of Pterodactylus longirostris. Pterodactylus longirostris is a junior synonym of Ornithocephalus antiquus, but Pterodactylus replaced Ornithocephalus...
species of Pterodactylus. However, at the time, many scientists incorrectly considered Ornithocephalus to be the valid name for Pterodactylus. This specimen...
1871, Marsh named the find Pterodactylus oweni, assigning it to the well-known (but much smaller) European genus Pterodactylus. Marsh also collected more...
finds, Buckland classified the remains in the genus Pterodactylus, coining the new species Pterodactylus macronyx. The specific name is derived from Greek...
(meaning "lance biter") consisted of the former species Pterodactylus compressirostris, and Pterodactylus giganteus, which were reassigned as Lonchodectes compressirostris...
to the genus Pterodactylus. In 1859, Sir Richard Owen named pterosaur material from the Cambridge Greensand of England as Pterodactylus sedgwickii. At...
species Pterodactylus cuvieri in 1851. The specific name cuvieri honours the palaeontologist George Cuvier, whereas the genus Pterodactylus was then...
He named it Pterodactylus (Ornithocephalus) eurychirus, "the broad-handed", but later in the same publication used the name Pterodactylus suevicus eurychirus...
specimen probably belonging to the same species was described and named Pterodactylus elegans by Wagner. Because the species name elegans was named before...
Solnhofen Limestone. Its specimens were long thought to pertain to Pterodactylus. The head crest of Germanodactylus is a distinctive feature. G. cristatus...
it can also be used to refer to Pterodactylus specifically. Well-known examples of pterodactyloids include Pterodactylus, Pteranodon, and Quetzalcoatlus...
However, technically, pterodactyl may refer to members of the genus Pterodactylus, and more broadly to members of the suborder Pterodactyloidea of the...
compared the G. subulatus jaw fragment to contemporary pterosaurs such as Pterodactylus and Ctenochasma, and concluded that it was also probably a "flying reptile"...
Genus Pterodactylus aus der Liasformation der Gegend von Banz", Okens Isis, 3: 276–281 Meyer, H. von (1831). "Über Macrospondylus und Pterodactylus", Nova...
Ardeadactylus longicollum, which was originally thought to be a species of Pterodactylus, as P. longicollum. Only two specimens of Ardeadactylus are known to...
species of Pterodactylus: Pterodactylus giganteus. The specific name means "the gigantic one" in Latin. The same pit generated remains of Pterodactylus cuvieri...
which includes almost complete skulls. In 1980 Peter Galton renamed Pterodactylus brancai (Reck 1931), a form from a late Jurassic African formation,...
misidentified as a species of a pterodactyloid pterosaur and named Pterodactylus crassipes in 1857. In 1970 it was identified as an Archaeopteryx by...
Cretaceous Upper Chalk near Kent. Richard Owen named in 1851 as a species of Pterodactylus; it was transferred to Ornithocheirus in 1870 by Harry Govier Seeley...
specimen lacked good autapomorphies and the genus was a nomen dubium. Pterodactylus bucklandii von Meyer, 1832 and Rhamphorhynchus depressirostris Huxley...
in 2009/2010 defined as the group consisting of Pterodactylus and all species sharing with Pterodactylus the synapomorphy of an external nostril confluent...
bird, from Europe Rhamphorhynchus a long-tailed pterosaur from Europe Pterodactylus, a short-tailed pterosaur from Europe Anurognathus, one of the smallest...
Global Information
