Pterosauria - Pterodactyloidea - Scalmognatha - Pteranodontidae
Pteranodontidae
The genus Pteranodon consists out of several large pterosaurs of the Cretaceous of North America. Pteranodon had a crested skull and a spanwide of 7,5 meter with a relatively small body. The hindlegs were small and weak. The bones hollow and only 1 mm thick creating a reducing of the total weight.
Family: Pteranodontidae Marsh, 1876 = Ornithostomatidae Williston, 1893 = Ornithostomatinae Williston, 1897 = Pteranodontes Gadow, 1901 = Pteranodontinae Williston, 1892 = Pternanodontinae Kuhn, 1967 [sic]
Genusame: Ornithostoma
Speciesname: orientalis
Describer:
Distribution: Petrowsk, Russia
Timeperiod: Late Cretaceous
Size:
Diet:
Info: Genus: Ornithostoma Seeley, 1871 [nomen dubium] Under O. orientalis and O. seeleyi belong: P. ingens, P. marshi, P. occidentalis, P. eatoni, P. walkeri
Genusame: Ornithostoma
Speciesname: sedgwicki
Describer: Seeley, 1891
Distribution: England
Timeperiod: Late Cretaceous
Size:
Diet:
Info: Genus: Ornithostoma Seeley, 1871 [nomen dubium]
Seeley erected the genus Ornithostoma without a type species in January 1871 to accommodate a toothless premaxilla and two other edentulous jaw fragments. The premaxilla had previously been described by Owen (1859) as the proximal end of a pterosaurian wing-finger metacarpal. Sometime after learning of Marsh\'s Pteranodon, Seeley (1891) realized that the jaw of the North American genus was similar to his Ornithostoma fragments and intimated that the two forms might be congeneric. At the same time, he erected the name Ornithostoma sedgwicki for the British species, which, since it is the first species coined within, became the type species of that genus. This was overlooked by Williston (1893), who synonymized the two genera with Ornithostoma ingens (formerly Pteranodon ingens) as the \"type\" species, and by Lydekker (1904), who unnecessarily created Ornithostoma seeleyi to serve as type species. Ornithostoma sedgwicki is not to be confused with Ornithocheirus sedgwickii, for material Owen placed in his new species Pterodactylus sedgwickii elsewhere in the aforementioned 1859 work. Unwin (in Benton, 1993) referred the genus Ornithostoma to Pteranodontidae. Source: George Olshevksy
Genusame: Ornithostoma
Speciesname: seeleyi
Describer: Lydekker, 1904 [nomen dubium]
Distribution: England
Timeperiod: Late Cretaceous
Size:
Diet:
Info: Genus: Ornithostoma Seeley, 1871 [nomen dubium]
O. sedgwicki = Ornithostoma seeleyi Lydekker, 1904 [nomen dubium]
Under O. orientalis and O. seeleyi belong: P. ingens, P. marshi, P. occidentalis, P. eatoni, P. walkeri
Pteranodon ingens
Genusame: Pteranodon
Speciesname: longiceps
Describer: Marsh, 1876
Distribution: Niobrara Formation, Kansas, US
Timeperiod: Santonian, Late Cretaceous
Size: Skull length max.1.8 m. Wingspan = 7 m.
Diet:
Info: Genus: Pteranodon Marsh, 1876 = Geosternbergia Miller, 1978 (as a subgenus) = Geosternbergia (Miller, 1978) Olshevsky, 1991 = Longicepia Miller, 1978 (as a subgenus) = Longicepis Miller, 1972 [sic] = Occidentalia Miller, 1972 (as a subgenus) = Ornithochirus Cope, 1872 [sic; for Ornithocheirus] = Ornithostoma Williston, 1893 non Seeley, 1871 = Pteronodon Tonks, 1995 [sic; in Dinosaur Collector\'s Club Newsletter] = Sternbergia Miller, 1972/Jordan, 1925 (as a subgenus)
P. longiceps = Pteranodon (Longicepia) longiceps (Marsh, 1876) Miller, 1972 = Pteranodon (Pteranodon) longiceps (Marsh, 1876) Miller, 1973† = Pterodactylus oweni Marsh, 1871 non Seeley, 1864 [nomen dubium] = Pterodactylus occidentalis Marsh, 1872 [nomen dubium; replacement name for Pterodactylus oweni Marsh, 1871] = Pteranodon (Occidentalia) occidentalis (Marsh, 1872) Olshevsky, 1978 [nomen dubium] = Pteranodon occidentalis (Marsh, 1872) Marsh, 1876 [nomen dubium] = Ornithocheirus harpyia Cope, 1872 emend. Newton, 1888 [nomen dubium] = Ornithochirus harpyia Cope, 1872 [nomen dubium] = Pteranodon harpyia (Cope, 1872) Williston, 1903 [nomen dubium] = Ornithocheirus umbrosus Cope, 1872 emend. Newton, 1888 [nomen dubium] = Ornithochirus umbrosus Cope, 1872 [nomen dubium] = Ornithostoma umbrosum (Cope, 1872) Williston, 1897 = Pteranodon umbrosus (Cope, 1872) Williston, 1892 [nomen dubium] = Pterodactylus umbrosus (Cope, 1872) Cope, 1874 [nomen dubium] = Pterodactylus ingens Marsh, 1872 [nomen dubium] = Ornithostoma ingens (Marsh, 1872) Williston, 1893 [nomen dubium] = Pteranodon ingens (Marsh, 1872) Marsh, 1876 [nomen dubium] = Pteranodon (Longicepia) ingens (Marsh, 1872) Olshevsky, 1978 [nomen dubium] = Pteranodon (Pteranodon) ingens (Marsh, 1872) Olshevsky, 1978 [nomen dubium] = Pterodactylus velox Marsh, 1872 [nomen dubium] [juv.] = Pteranodon velox (Marsh, 1872) Marsh, 1876 [nomen dubium] [juv.] = Pterodactylus owenii Cope, 1874 [sic] = Pteranodon comptus Marsh, 1876 [nomen dubium; juv.; in part] = Pteranodon (Longicepia) longieceps Miller, 1972 [sic] = Pteranodon (Longicepia) marshi Miller, 1972 = Pteranodon marshi (Miller, 1972) = Pteranodon ( Pteranodon) marshi (Miller, 1972) Miller, 1973 = Pteranodon ingens Marsh, 1876 non Marsh, 1872 = Pteranodon occidentails Miller, 1972 [sic] = Pteranodon occidetalis Miller, 1972 [sic] = Pteranodon (Sternbergia) walkeri Miller, 1972 [juv.] = Geosternbergia walkeri (Miller, 1972) Olshevsky, 1991 [juv.] = Pteranodon walkeri (Miller, 1972) Miller, 1972 [juv.] = Pteranodon (Geosternbergia) walkeri (Miller, 1972) Miller, 1978 [juv.] = Pteranodon oxydactylus McGinnis, 1982 [sic]
(Pteranodon longiceps = toothless wing) Pteranodon is known from thousands of specimens, mostly disarticulated and crushed bits and pieces. Origianly named \"Pterodactylus,\" discovered in 1871.
Genusame: Pteranodon
Speciesname: sternbergi
Describer: Harksen, 1966 (paraspecies)
Distribution: Kansas, US
Timeperiod: Late Cretaceous
Size:
Diet:
Info: Genus: Pteranodon Marsh, 1876 = Geosternbergia Miller, 1978 (as a subgenus) = Geosternbergia (Miller, 1978) Olshevsky, 1991 = Longicepia Miller, 1978 (as a subgenus) = Longicepis Miller, 1972 [sic] = Occidentalia Miller, 1972 (as a subgenus) = Ornithochirus Cope, 1872 [sic; for Ornithocheirus] = Ornithostoma Williston, 1893 non Seeley, 1871 = Pteronodon Tonks, 1995 [sic; in Dinosaur Collector\'s Club Newsletter] = Sternbergia Miller, 1972/Jordan, 1925 (as a subgenus)
P. sternbergi = Geosternbergia sternbergi (Harksen, 1966) Olshevsky, 1991 = Pteranodon (Geosternbergia) sternbergi (Harksen, 1966) Miller, 1978 = Pteranodon (Sternbergia) sternbergi (Harksen, 1966) Miller, 1972 = Pteranodon sternberg Harksen, 1966 [sic] = Pteranodon (Occidentalia) eatoni Miller, 1972 = Pteranodon eatoni (Miller, 1972) Miller, 1972 [juv.] = Pteranodon occidentalis Marsh, 1876 non Marsh, 1872 [juv.]
This genus is organized according to Bennett (1994). After examining virtually all of the more than 1100 specimens of Pteranodon known from the Niobrara Formation, Bennett determined that there are only two valid species in the genus, well separated stratigraphically and morphologically. All the other named \"species\" not referable to the genus Nyctosaurus are either nomina dubia or junior subjective synonyms of the two valid species, their observed anatomical differences representing individual or anagenetic variation, the two sexes (a large \"male\" morph with narrow pelvic canal and a smaller \"female\" morph with wide pelvic canal), and/or growth stages or allometry (e.g., in crest and specimen sizes). The nomina dubia are based on topotype Niobrara Formation specimens and may thereby tentatively be synonymized with one or the other valid species by stratigraphy. Sexes in this listing are designated according to the presumed sexes of their type specimens. Pteranodon sternbergi is noted here as a paraspecies because according to Bennett it was almost certainly ancestral to Pteranodon longiceps; it occurs only in older Niobrara strata. Miller (1972) subdivided the genus Pteranodon into four subgenera: Longicepia Miller, 1972 (type species Pteranodon longiceps Marsh, 1876), Occidentalia Miller, 1972 (type species Pteranodon (Occidentalia) eatoni Miller, 1972, based on a specimen originally referred to Pteranodon occidentalis Marsh, 1872 by Marsh, 1876), Sternbergia Miller, 1972 (type species Pteranodon sternbergi Harksen, 1966), and Nyctosaurus Marsh, 1876 (type species Nyctosaurus gracilis [Marsh, 1876] Marsh, 1876). However, Longicepia is a junior objective synonym of Pteranodon itself, as a subgenus, because it contains the type species; Nyctosaurus is a genus distinct from Pteranodon (Schoch, 1984) that belongs in its own family (Bennett, 1989); Occidentalia is a junior subjective synonym of Pteranodon (Wellnhofer, 1978); and
Sternbergia is a preoccupied name, later changed to Geosternbergia by Miller (1978). Olshevsky (1991) considered Geosternbergia to be a separate genus, but Bennett\'s analysis renders generic separation from Pteranodon unnecessary: The supposed differences in skull morphology between Pteranodon sternbergi and Pteranodon longiceps arose largely from preservational factors and errors in specimen reconstruction that appear in the literature. Only the crest shapes and a few minor features of skull anatomy are diagnostically distinct; postcranially, the species are indistinguishable. Source: George Olshevsky
Pteranodon sternbergi
Genusame: Pteranodon
Speciesname: sp.
Describer:
Distribution: Japan
Timeperiod: Late Cretaceous
Size:
Diet:
Info: Genus: Pteranodon Marsh, 1876 = Geosternbergia Miller, 1978 (as a subgenus) = Geosternbergia (Miller, 1978) Olshevsky, 1991 = Longicepia Miller, 1978 (as a subgenus) = Longicepis Miller, 1972 [sic] = Occidentalia Miller, 1972 (as a subgenus) = Ornithochirus Cope, 1872 [sic; for Ornithocheirus] = Ornithostoma Williston, 1893 non Seeley, 1871 = Pteronodon Tonks, 1995 [sic; in Dinosaur Collector\'s Club Newsletter] = Sternbergia Miller, 1972/Jordan, 1925 (as a subgenus)