| Pteranodontids | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Mounted replicas of female and maleGeosternbergia sternbergi skeletons (Royal Ontario Museum). | |
Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Order: | †Pterosauria |
| Suborder: | †Pterodactyloidea |
| Clade: | †Pteranodontoidea |
| Clade: | †Pteranodontia |
| Family: | †Pteranodontidae Marsh, 1876 |
| Type species | |
| †Pteranodon longiceps Marsh, 1876 | |
| Genera | |
ThePteranodontidae are afamily of largepterosaurs from theLate Cretaceous ofNorth America and possibly other continents includingEurope andAfrica. The family was named in 1876 byOthniel Charles Marsh. Pteranodontids had a distinctive, elongated crest jutting from the rear of the head (most famously seen inPteranodon itself). The spectacularly-crestedNyctosaurus is sometimes included in this family, though usually placed in its own family, theNyctosauridae (Nicholson & Lydekker, 1889).
Modern researchers differ in their use of the concept. S. Christopher Bennett andAlexander Kellner have concluded thatNyctosaurus was not a pteranodontid. In 1994 Bennett defined aclade Pteranodontidae, also including species of theOrnithocheiromorpha.[4] However, this definition has not been accepted by other workers. Alexander Kellner, for example, named several additional species for specimens previously classified asPteranodon, and placedP. sternbergi in a distinct genus,Geosternbergia. Kellner re-defined Pteranodontidae as the most recent common ancestor ofPteranodon longiceps,Geosternbergia sternbergi andDawndraco kanzai, and all of its descendants. This definition is now contentious, however, as the validity ofDawndraco has been disputed and the utility[clarification needed] of separatingGeosternbergia fromPteranodon questioned.[5] This clade possibly includes thenyctosaurids. Analyses by David Unwin did indicate a close relationship betweenPteranodon andNyctosaurus, and he used the namePteranodontia for the clade containing both.
Pteranodontids are primarily known from theConiacian toCampanian stages of the Cretaceous in North America andJapan.[6] However, potentialMaastrichtian remains have been identified from several other locations,[7][8] being actually rather common in the Maastrichtian of theTethys Sea. Beginning in 2016, Nicholas Longrich, David Martill, and Brian Andres presented evidence of several nyctosaurid and pteranodontid species from the latest Maastrichtian age of north Africa, suggesting that both lineages went through an evolutionary radiation in the Tethys region shortly before theK–Pg extinction event.[9][10] Additionally, laterphylogenetic studies imply that they represent aghost lineage dating much earlier in the Cretaceous.[11]Volgadraco, previously assumed to be an azhdarchid, has also since been relocated to pteranodontidae.[3]
