Pterodactyloidea
Pterodactyloidea is the suborder of short-tailed pterosaurs. Their fossil record starts in the middle Jurassic. They became extinct in the K/T extinction event at the end of the Cretaceous period. Pterodactylus, Pteranodon and Quetzalcoatlus are in this suborder.
| Pterodactyloids | |
|---|---|
| File:Pterodactylus antiquus - IMG 0681.jpg | |
| Pterodactylus antiquus cast, Carnegie Museum of Natural History | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Order: | Pterosauria |
| Clade: | Caelidracones |
| Suborder: | Pterodactyloidea Plieninger, 1901 |
In 2014 remains of the earliest pterodactyloid was found in China. It is called Kryptodrakon. Its minimum age was 162.7 million years ago (mya). This is about five million years older than any previously known confirmed specimens.[1]
Recent work shows that the group had more variety at the end of the Cretaceous than was thought earlier. In the early 2010s, several new pterosaur taxa were discovered dating to the late Cretaceous.[2][3] These finds include some small sized pterosaur species.[4][5]
At the end of the Cretaceous period, the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, which made all non-avian and most avian dinosaurs, as well as many other animals, extinct. The pterosaurs seem to have gone extinct in this event.
Classification
This is the classification of the different divisions of pterodactyloidea:
- Order Pterosauria
- Suborder Pterodactyloidea
- Superfamily Ornithocheiroidea
- Family Istiodactylidae
- Family Ornithocheiridae
- Family Pteranodontidae
- Superfamily Ctenochasmatoidea
- Superfamily Dsungaripteroidea
- Family Dsungaripteridae
- Superfamily Azhdarchoidea
- Family Lonchodectidae
- Family Tapejaridae
- Family Azhdarchidae
- Superfamily Ornithocheiroidea
- Suborder Pterodactyloidea
Pterodactyloidea Media
- AnurognathusDB white background.jpg
AnurognathusDB white background
- Kryptodrakon.jpeg
Life restoration of Kryptodrakon progenitor, a pterosaur that lived in western China 160 mya
- Altmuehlopterus DB.jpg
Altmuehlopterus rhamphastinus (formerly Germanodactylus)
- Pterodactylus BMMS7 life.png
Life restoration of BMMS 7, the largest known specimen of Pterodactylus antiquus. The shape of the crest is based on that of BSP 1929, but made speculatively larger to account for a more mature growth stage.
- Pterodaustro BW.jpg
Pterodaustro, pencil drawing, digital coloring.
- Pteranodon longiceps mmartyniuk wiki.png
Pteranodon longiceps mmartyniuk wiki
Lonchodectes sketches
- LiaoningopterusDB flipped.jpg
Liaoningopterus
- TapimpDB.jpg
Tupandactylus imperator (formerly classified as Tapejara imperator).
- Tupux longDB2.jpg
Tupuxara longicristatus
References
- ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Identifiers at line 630: attempt to index field 'known_free_doi_registrants_t' (a nil value).
- ↑ Andres B. & Myers T.S. 2013. Lone Star pterosaurs. Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. 103 (3–4): 1.[1]
- ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Identifiers at line 630: attempt to index field 'known_free_doi_registrants_t' (a nil value).
- ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Identifiers at line 630: attempt to index field 'known_free_doi_registrants_t' (a nil value).
- ↑ Elizabeth Martin-Silverstone; Mark P. Witton; Victoria M. Arbour; Philip J. Currie 2016. A small azhdarchoid pterosaur from the latest Cretaceous, the age of flying giants. Royal Society Open Science. 3 (8): 160333. doi:10.1098/rsos.160333.