Pterodactyloidea is a suborder of short-tailed pterosaurs that contains various "advanced" species. Pterodactyloids appeared in the Middle Jurassic and persisted until the K-pg mass extinction, which killed off all non-avian dinosaurs and other prehistoric lineages. While various basal forms had teeth, by the late Cretaceous, all of them were toothless. The most well known member of this group is the genus Pteranodon.
"Pterodactyl" can either refers to species in the genus Pterodactylus (which is not only the namesake of this group, but the first pterosaur discovered) or to pterodactyloids in general.
| Pterodactyloidea |
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