Initial classifications for
Pterodactylus started when paleontologist Hermann von Meyer used the name Pterodactyli to contain
Pterodactylus and other pterosaurs known at the time. This was emended to the
family Pterodactylidae by Prince
Charles Lucien Bonaparte in 1838. However, this group has more recently been given several competing definitions. Beginning in 2014, researchers Steven Vidovic and David Martill constructed an analysis in which several pterosaurs traditionally thought of as
archaeopterodactyloids closely related to the
ctenochasmatoids may have been more closely related to the more advanced
dsungaripteroids, or in some cases, fall outside both groups. Their conclusion was published in 2017, in which they placed
Pterodactylus as a basal member of the suborder
Pterodactyloidea. }}
Formerly assigned species , which was previously assigned as the species Pterodactylus münsteri'' Numerous species have been assigned to
Pterodactylus in the years since its discovery. In the first half of the 19th century any new pterosaur species would be named
Pterodactylus, which thus became a "
wastebasket taxon". Further fossil preparations had uncovered teeth, to which Graf zu Münster created a skull cast. He later sent the cast to Professor
Georg August Goldfuss, who recognized it as a pterosaur, specifically a species of
Pterodactylus. At the time however, most paleontologists incorrectly consider the genus
Ornithocephalus () to be the valid name for
Pterodactylus, and therefore the specimen found was named as
Ornithocephalus Münsteri, which was first mentioned by Graf zu Münster himself. Another specimen was found and described by Graf zu Münster in 1839, he assigned this specimen to a new separate species called
Ornithocephalus longicaudus; the
specific name means 'long tail', in reference to the animal's tail size. German paleontologist
Hermann von Meyer in 1845 officially emended that the genus
Pterodactylus had priority over
Ornithocephalus, so he reassigned the species
O. münsteri and
O. longicaudus into
Pterodactylus münsteri and
Pterodactylus longicaudus. In 1846, von Meyer created the new species
Pterodactylus gemmingi based on long-tailed remains; the specific name honors the fossil collector
Carl Eming von Gemming. Later, in 1847, von Meyer finally erected the generic name
Rhamphorhynchus () due to the distinctively long tails seen in the specimens found, which are much longer than those seen in
Pterodactylus. He assigned the species
P. longicaudus as the type species of
Rhamphorhynchus, which resulted in a new combination called
Rhamphorhynchus longicaudus. The species
R. münsteri was later changed to
R. muensteri by Lydekker in 1888, due to the
ICZN rule that prohibits non-standard Latin characters, such as
ü, in scientific names. the specific name means 'the gigantic one' in Latin, in reference to the large size of the remains, and the second species was named in 1851 as
Pterodactylus cuvieri, in honor of the French scientist Georges Cuvier. Later in 1851, Owen named and described new pterosaur specimens that have been found yet again in England. He assigned these specimens to a new species called
Pterodactylus compressirostris. In 1914 however, paleontologist
Reginald Hooley redescribed
P. compressirostris, to which he erected the genus
Lonchodectes (), and therefore made
P. compressirostris the type species, and created the new combination
L. compressirostris. In a 2013 review,
P. giganteus and
P. cuvieri were reassigned to new genera;
P. giganteus was reassigned to a genus called
Lonchodraco ('lance dragon'), which resulted in a new combination called
L. giganteus, and
P. cuvieri was reassigned to the new genus
Cimoliopterus ('chalk wing'), creating
C. cuvieri. Back in 1859, Owen had found remains the front part of a snout in the
Cambridge Greensand, and assigned it into the species
Pterodactylus segwickii; in honor of
Adam Sedgwick, a British geologist. This species however, was reassigned to the genus
Camposipterus in 2013, therefore creating the new combination
Camposipterus segwickii. though the British paleontologist
Harry Govier Seeley had created a separate generic name called
Ornithocheirus, and reassigned
P. simus as the type species, which created the combination
Ornithocheirus simus. Between the years 1869 and 1870, Seeley had reassigned many pterosaur species into
Ornithocheirus, while also creating several new species. Many of these species however, are now reclassified to other genera, or considered . this species however, was reassigned to the genus
Lonchodectes in 1914 by Hooley, which resulted in an
L. sagittirostris.
, which was back then assigned as a species of Pterodactylus'' Assigning new pterosaur species to
Pterodactylus was not only common in Europe, but also in North America; paleontologists such as
Othniel Charles Marsh in 1871 for example, described several toothless pterosaur specimens, which were accompanied by teeth that belonged to the fish
Xiphactinus, which Marsh assumed that these teeth belonged to the pterosaur specimens he found, since all pterosaurs discovered at the time had teeth. He then assigned these specimens to a new species called
"Pterodactylus oweni", but this was changed to
Pterodactylus occidentalis because
"P. oweni" was found to have been
preoccupied by a pterosaur species described with the same name back in 1864 by Seeley. In 1872, American paleontologist
Edward Drinker Cope also found various pterosaur specimens in North America, he assigned these to two new species known as
Ornithochirus umbrosus and
Ornithochirus harpyia, Cope attempted to assign the specimens he found to the genus
Ornithocheirus, but misspelled forgetting the 'e'. In 1875 however, Cope reassigned the species
O. umbrosus and
O. harpyia into
Pterodactylus umbrosus and
Pterodactylus harpyia, though these species had been considered ever since. Later, in the 1980s, subsequent revisions by
Peter Wellnhofer had reduced the number of recognized species to about half a dozen. Many species assigned to
Pterodactylus had been based on juvenile specimens, and subsequently been recognized as immature individuals of other species or genera. By the 1990s it was understood that this was even true for part of the remaining species.
P. elegans, for example, was found by numerous studies to be an immature
Ctenochasma. Another species of
Pterodactylus originally based on small, immature specimens was
P. micronyx. However, it has been difficult to determine exactly of what genus and species
P. micronyx might be the juvenile form. Stéphane Jouve, Christopher Bennett and others had once suggested that it probably belonged either to
Gnathosaurus subulatus or one of the species belonging to
Ctenochasma. Another species with a complex history is
P. longicollum, named by von Meyer in 1854, based on a large specimen with a long neck and fewer teeth. Many researchers, including
David Unwin, have found
P. longicollum to be distinct from
P. kochi and
P. antiquus. Unwin found
P. longicollum to be closer to
Germanodactylus and therefore requiring a new genus name.
"P." longicollum was eventually made the type species of a separate genus
Ardeadactylus. More recent studies of pterosaur relationships have found anurognathids and pterodactyloids to be sister groups, which would limit the more inclusive group
Caelidracones to just two clades. In 2017, Bennett challenged this hypothesis, he claimed that while Vidovic and Martill had identified real differences between these three groups of specimens, they had not provided any rationale that the differences were enough to distinguish them as species, rather than just individual variation, growth changes, or simply due to crushing and distortion during the fossilization process. Bennett pointed in particular to the data used to distinguish
Aerodactylus, which was so different from the data for related species, it might be due to an unnatural assemblage of specimens. As a result, Bennett continued to consider
Diopecephalus and
Aerodactylus simply as year-classes of immature
Pterodactylus antiquus.
List of species During its over-200-year history, the various species of
Pterodactylus have gone through a number of changes in classification and thus have acquired a large number of synonyms. Additionally, a number of species assigned to
Pterodactylus are based on poor remains that have proven difficult to assign to one species or another and are therefore considered (). The following list includes names that were used to identify new pterosaur species that now have been reclassified, or until recently thought to be pertaining to
Pterodactylus proper, and names based on other material that has as yet not been assigned to other genera. This list also includes species that are ('naked names'), which are species that were not published formally. Species that are ('forgotten names') are the ones that have been disused, and species that are ('rejected names') are the ones that have been rejected because a more preferable name had been accepted instead. ==Cultural significance==