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Pterosaur skeletons often show considerable fusion. In the skull, the sutures between elements disappeared. In some later pterosaurs, the backbone over the shoulders fused into a structure known as a notarium, which served to stiffen the torso during flight, and provide a stable support for the shoulder blade.
Different phylogenetic analyses found it as a basal pterosauromorph, [4] [5] a non-aphanosaurian, non-pterosaur basal avemetatarsalian, a basal dinosauromorph, [11] or a basal archosauriform. [12] This has resulted in a large gap between the fully aerial pterosaurs and their terrestrial ancestors, as the earliest pterosaurs were already capable ...
The split between dinosaurs and pterosaurs occurred just after aphanosaurs branched off the archosaur family tree. This split corresponds to the subgroup Ornithodira ( Ancient Greek ὄρνις ( órnis , “bird”) + δειρή ( deirḗ , “throat”), defined as the last common ancestor of dinosaurs and pterosaurs, and all of its descendants.
Pterodactylus (from Ancient Greek: πτεροδάκτυλος, romanized: 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.
Pterodactyloids were the last surviving pterosaurs when the order became extinct at the end of the Cretaceous Period, together with the non-avian dinosaurs and most marine reptiles. " Pterodactyl " is also a common term for pterodactyloid pterosaurs, though it can also be used to refer to Pterodactylus specifically.
Pteranodon (/ t ə ˈ r æ n ə d ɒ n /; from Ancient Greek: πτερόν, romanized: pteron ' wing ' and ἀνόδων, anodon ' toothless ') [2] [better source needed] is a genus of pterosaur that included some of the largest known flying reptiles, with P. longiceps having a wingspan of over 6 m (20 ft).
Rhamphorhynchus (/ ˌ r æ m f ə ˈ r ɪ ŋ k ə s /, [1] from Ancient Greek rhamphos meaning "beak" and rhynchus meaning "snout") is a genus of long-tailed pterosaurs in the Jurassic period. . Less specialized than contemporary, short-tailed pterodactyloid pterosaurs such as Pterodactylus, it had a long tail, stiffened with ligaments, which ended in a characteristic soft-tissue tail va
Aerodactylus (meaning "wind finger", after the Pokémon Aerodactyl) is a pterosaur genus containing a single species, Aerodactylus scolopaciceps.The fossil remains of this species have been found only in the Solnhofen limestone of Bavaria, Germany, dated to the late Jurassic Period (early Tithonian), about 150.8–148.5 million years ago. [1]