Pterodactyloidea

Pterodactyloidea is the suborder of short-tailed pterosaurs. Their fossil record starts in the middle Jurassic. They became extinct in the K/T extinction event at the end of the Cretaceous period. Pterodactylus, Pteranodon and Quetzalcoatlus are in this suborder.

In 2014 remains of the earliest pterodactyloid was found in China. It is called Kryptodrakon. Its minimum age was 162.7 million years ago (mya). This is about five million years older than any previously known confirmed specimens.

Recent work shows that the group had more variety at the end of the Cretaceous than was thought earlier. In the early 2010s, several new pterosaur taxa were discovered dating to the late Cretaceous. Andres B. & Myers T.S. 2013. Lone Star pterosaurs. Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. 103 (3–4): 1. These finds include some small sized pterosaur species.Elizabeth Martin-Silverstone; Mark P. Witton; Victoria M. Arbour; Philip J. Currie 2016. A small azhdarchoid pterosaur from the latest Cretaceous, the age of flying giants. Royal Society Open Science. 3 (8): 160333. doi:10.1098/rsos.160333.

At the end of the Cretaceous period, the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, which made all non-avian and most avian dinosaurs, as well as many other animals, extinct. The pterosaurs seem to have gone extinct in this event.

Classification
This is the classification of the different divisions of pterodactyloidea:
 Order Pterosauria
 Suborder Pterodactyloidea
 Superfamily Ornithocheiroidea
 Family Istiodactylidae
 Family Ornithocheiridae
 Coloborhynchus
 Family Pteranodontidae
 Pteranodon
 Superfamily Ctenochasmatoidea
 Pterodactylus
 Family Ctenochasmatidae
 Pterodaustro
 Superfamily Dsungaripteroidea
 Family Dsungaripteridae
 Dsungaripterus
 Superfamily Azhdarchoidea
 Family Lonchodectidae
 Family Tapejaridae
 Thalassodromeus
 Tupuxuara
 Family Azhdarchidae
 Quetzalcoatlus

References

Category:Pterosaurs