List of pterosaur classifications
Encyclopedia
This list of pterosaur classifications entails the various schemes used to classify pterosaur
s throughout the years and varying views of these animal
s.
is the most primitive taxon in this newly revealed third squamate clade between Iguania
and Scleroglossa
. Two branches arise from it.
Jesairosaurus
is basal to the Drepanosauridae
. Three distinct specimens of Macrocnemus
give rise to the Tanystropheidae, the Langobardisaurinae
and to the Fenestrasauria respectively.
Within the Fenestrasauria Cosesaurus
is basal to Sharovipteryx
, Saltopus
, Longisquama
and the Pterosauria in that order.
The Milan specimen of Eudimorphodon (MPUM 6009) is the most primitive known pterosaur and Austriadactylus is a sister taxon. One of two major clades, the Dimorphodontoidea, includes the Dimorphodontidae and the Anurognathidae.
The other major clade includes all other pterosaurs with Eudimorphodon + (Campylognathoides + Rhamphorhynchus) at its base. Higher dorygnathoids divide into the Dorygnathidae and a clade with Sordes at its base. In the former two distinct Dorygnathus specimens are basal to Ctenochasma and kin on one branch and to Quetzalcoatlus and kin on the other.
Within the Sordes-based clade, Pterorhynchus and Scaphognathus crassirostris are basal. Subsequently two distinct smaller Scaphognathus specimens are basal to two major clades. The first is a series of tiny pterosaurs, Cycnorhamphus and the Ornithocheiridae. The second includes some tiny pterosaurs, the Pterodactylidae and the
Germanodactylidae. From the latter arise the Dsungaripteria (Dsungaripteridae + Tapejaridae) and a clade consisting of (Eoazhdarcho + Eopteranodon) + (Pteranodon + Nyctosaurus).
Thus the former monophyletic "Pterodactyloidea" is revealed to be four distinct clades demonstrating some
convergence. Major clades typically have a spectral series of tiny pterosaurs at their base suggesting that paedomorphosis was a major factor in pterosaur evolution.
Pterosaur
Pterosaurs were flying reptiles of the clade or order Pterosauria. They existed from the late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous Period . Pterosaurs are the earliest vertebrates known to have evolved powered flight...
s throughout the years and varying views of these animal
Animal
Animals are a major group of multicellular, eukaryotic organisms of the kingdom Animalia or Metazoa. Their body plan eventually becomes fixed as they develop, although some undergo a process of metamorphosis later on in their life. Most animals are motile, meaning they can move spontaneously and...
s.
Unwin (2003)
Kellner (2003)
Wellnhofer (1991)
- Pterosauria
- ?AustriadactylusAustriadactylusAustriadactylus is a genus of "rhamphorhynchoid" pterosaur. The fossil remains were unearthed in Late Triassic rocks of Austria.The genus was named in 2002 by Fabio Marco Dalla Vecchia e.a.. The type species is Austriadactylus cristatus. The genus name is derived from Latin Austria and Greek...
- EudimorphodonEudimorphodonEudimorphodon was a pterosaur that was discovered in 1973 by Mario Pandolfi near Bergamo, Italy and described the same year by Rocco Zambelli. The nearly complete skeleton was retrieved from shale deposited during the Late Triassic , making Eudimorphodon the oldest pterosaur then known...
- +
- DimorphodontidaeDimorphodontidaeDimorphodontidae is a family of early "rhamphorhynchoid" pterosaurs named after Dimorphodon, that lived in the Late Triassic to Early Jurassic....
- +
- ?RhamphinionRhamphinionRhamphinion Rhamphinion Rhamphinion (meaning "beak nape"; Greek rhamphos, "beak" is a common part of "rhamphorhynchoid" names, and the remains of this animal came from the rear of the skull, i.e...
- ?HerbstosaurusHerbstosaurusHerbstosaurus is the name given to a genus of pterosaur that lived during the Jurassic period, in what is now Argentina.In 1969 Argentine paleobotanist Rafael Herbst in the province Neuquén at Picun Leufú dug up a piece of sandstone holding a number of disarticulated bones of a small reptile...
- ?NesodactylusNesodactylusNesodactylus was a genus of "rhamphorhynchoid" pterosaur from the Oxfordian-age Upper Jurassic Jagua Formation of Pinar del Río, western Cuba....
- RhamphorhynchidaeRhamphorhynchidaeRhamphorhynchidae is a group of early "rhamphorhynchoid" pterosaurs named after Rhamphorhynchus, that lived in the Late Jurassic. The family Rhamphorhynchidae was named in 1870 by Harry Govier Seeley.-Classification:...
- +
- DimorphodontidaeDimorphodontidaeDimorphodontidae is a family of early "rhamphorhynchoid" pterosaurs named after Dimorphodon, that lived in the Late Triassic to Early Jurassic....
- PterodactyloideaPterodactyloideaPterodactyloidea forms one of the two suborders of pterosaurs , and contains the most derived members of this group of flying reptiles...
- ?DermodactylusDermodactylusDermodactylus was a genus of pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Kimmeridgian-Tithonian-age Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of Wyoming, USA...
- ?MesadactylusMesadactylusMesadactylus is an extinct genus of pterosaur from the Kimmeridgian-Tithonian-age Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of Colorado, USA....
- ?BennettazhiaBennettazhiaBennettazhia is a genus of pterosaur .In 1928 Charles Gilmore named a new species of Pteranodon: P. oregonensis. A humerus , two fused dorsal vertebrae and the broken-off end of some joint bone had been unearthed from the Lower Cretaceous beds of the Hudspeth Formation in Wheeler County, in the...
- ?IstiodactylusIstiodactylusIstiodactylus was a medium sized pterosaur from the Early Cretaceous period.-History and species:In 1887 Harry Govier Seeley named the remains of a fossil pelvis discovered on the Isle of Wight, Ornithodesmus cluniculus, thinking it was a bird. In 1901 he considered that it might have been a...
- ?AraripesaurusAraripesaurusAraripesaurus was a pterosaur, belonging to the Pterodactyloidea, from the famous Santana Formation of Brazil, dating from the Lower Cretaceous....
- ?Pterodaustridae
- Pterodactylidae
- GallodactylidaeGallodactylidaeGallodactylidae is a group of pterosaurs within the suborder Pterodactyloidea....
- GermanodactylidaeGermanodactylidaeGermanodactylidae is a group of pterosaurs within the suborder Pterodactyloidea. While its exact placement and content are controversial, recent studies have suggested it contains three genera: Germanodactylus, Normannognathus and Tendaguripterus...
- CtenochasmatidaeCtenochasmatidaeCtenochasmatidae is a group of pterosaurs within the suborder Pterodactyloidea.-Classification:Listing of subfamilies and genera after Unwin 2006 unless otherwise noted.* Family Ctenochasmatidae** Elanodactylus** Gegepterus...
- DsungaripteridaeDsungaripteridaeDsungaripteridae is a group of pterosaurs within the suborder Pterodactyloidea....
- OrnithocheiridaeOrnithocheiridaeOrnithocheiridae is a group of pterosaurs within the suborder Pterodactyloidea. They were among the last pterosaurs to possess teeth.-Classification:Listing of genera after Unwin , except where noted.* Family Ornithocheiridae** ?Aetodactylus...
- TapejaridaeTapejaridaeTapejaridae are a family of pterodactyloid pterosaurs from the early Cretaceous period. Members are currently known from Brazil and China, where the most primitive genera are found, indicating that the family has an Asian origin....
- Anhangueridae
- +
- ?NyctosaurusNyctosaurusNyctosaurus is a genus of pterodactyloid pterosaur, the remains of which have been found in the Niobrara Formation of the mid-western United States, which, during the late Cretaceous Period, was covered in an extensive shallow sea. The genus Nyctosaurus has had numerous species referred to it,...
- PteranodontidaePteranodontidaeThe Pteranodontidae are a family of large pterosaurs of the Cretaceous Period of North America.The family was named in 1876 by Othniel Charles Marsh....
- ?Nyctosaurus
- Criorhynchidae
- AzhdarchidaeAzhdarchidaeAzhdarchidae is a family of pterosaurs known primarily from the late Cretaceous Period, though an isolated vertebrae apparently from an azhdarchid is known from the early Cretaceous as well...
- ?Dermodactylus
- Dimorphodontidae
- +
- ?Rhamphinion
- Dimorphodontidae
- ?Austriadactylus
Peters (2007)
The basal lizard, HuehuecuetzpalliHuehuecuetzpalli
Huehuecuetzpalli mixtecus is a basal squamate, possibly a basal iguanian from the Early Cretaceous of the Tlayúa Formation, Tepexi de Rodríguez, Central Mexico....
is the most primitive taxon in this newly revealed third squamate clade between Iguania
Iguania
Iguania is the suborder of Squamata that contains the iguanas, chameleons, agamids, and "New World lizards" such as anoles and Phrynosomatidae...
and Scleroglossa
Scleroglossa
Scleroglossa is the previously recognized suborder of Squamata that contains the geckos, anguids, worm lizards, monitor lizards, such as helodermatids, skinks and snakes. The name is derived from the Greek, skleros, meaning hard and glossa, meaning tongue.Traditionally, Squamata has been divided...
. Two branches arise from it.
Jesairosaurus
Jesairosaurus
Jesairosaurus is an extinct genus of prolacertiform archosauromorph known from Illizi Province of Algeria.-Description:Jesairosaurus is known from the holotype ZAR 6, articulated and three-dimensionally preserved skull and pectoral girdle and from nine paratypes including ZAR 7-8, two...
is basal to the Drepanosauridae
Drepanosauridae
Drepanosaurs are a group of strange reptiles that lived during the Carnian stage of the late Triassic Period, between 220 and 216 million years ago. The various species of drepanosaurid were characterized by odd specialized grasping limbs and often prehensile tails, adaptions for arboreal , and/or...
. Three distinct specimens of Macrocnemus
Macrocnemus
Macrocnemus is an extinct genus of prolacertiform reptile from the Middle Triassic of Europe. Two species have been named, the type species M. bassanii and the species M. fuyuanensis....
give rise to the Tanystropheidae, the Langobardisaurinae
Langobardisaurus
Langobardisaurus is an extinct genus of prolacertiform reptile....
and to the Fenestrasauria respectively.
Within the Fenestrasauria Cosesaurus
Cosesaurus
Cosesaurus is a genus of prolacertiform archosauromorph reptile. It is known from a single, hand-sized fossil from the middle Triassic period of Spain...
is basal to Sharovipteryx
Sharovipteryx
Sharovipteryx , was an early gliding reptile, from the middle-late Triassic period . Fossils have been found from the Madygen Formation of Kyrgyzstan along with the unusual reptile Longisquama...
, Saltopus
Saltopus
Saltopus is a genus of very small bipedal dinosauriform, roughly 60 centimeters long, not much bigger than a rabbit, that was discovered in Scotland by Friedrich von Huene in 1910. It was a late Triassic carnivore. Probably the size of a small cat, with hollow bones like those of a bird,...
, Longisquama
Longisquama
Longisquama insignis is an extinct lizard-like reptile known only from one poorly preserved and incomplete fossil. It lived during the middle or late Triassic Period, 230-225 million years ago, in what is now Kyrgyzstan...
and the Pterosauria in that order.
The Milan specimen of Eudimorphodon (MPUM 6009) is the most primitive known pterosaur and Austriadactylus is a sister taxon. One of two major clades, the Dimorphodontoidea, includes the Dimorphodontidae and the Anurognathidae.
The other major clade includes all other pterosaurs with Eudimorphodon + (Campylognathoides + Rhamphorhynchus) at its base. Higher dorygnathoids divide into the Dorygnathidae and a clade with Sordes at its base. In the former two distinct Dorygnathus specimens are basal to Ctenochasma and kin on one branch and to Quetzalcoatlus and kin on the other.
Within the Sordes-based clade, Pterorhynchus and Scaphognathus crassirostris are basal. Subsequently two distinct smaller Scaphognathus specimens are basal to two major clades. The first is a series of tiny pterosaurs, Cycnorhamphus and the Ornithocheiridae. The second includes some tiny pterosaurs, the Pterodactylidae and the
Germanodactylidae. From the latter arise the Dsungaripteria (Dsungaripteridae + Tapejaridae) and a clade consisting of (Eoazhdarcho + Eopteranodon) + (Pteranodon + Nyctosaurus).
Thus the former monophyletic "Pterodactyloidea" is revealed to be four distinct clades demonstrating some
convergence. Major clades typically have a spectral series of tiny pterosaurs at their base suggesting that paedomorphosis was a major factor in pterosaur evolution.