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The Rhamphorhynchoidea forms one of the two suborders of pterosaur
Pterosaur

Pterosaurs were flying reptiles of the clade or Order Pterosauria. They existed from the late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous Period . Pterosaurs are the earliest vertebrates known to have evolved powered flight....
s and represent a grade of primitive members of this group of flying reptiles. This suborder is paraphyletic in relation to the Pterodactyloidea
Pterodactyloidea

Pterodactyloidea forms one of the two suborders of pterosaurs , and contains the most advanced members of this group of flying reptiles. They appeared during the middle Jurassic Period, and differ from the basal rhamphorhynchoidea by their short tails and long wing metacarpals ....
, which arose from within the Ramphorhynchoidea, not from a more distant common ancestor. Because it is not a completely natural grouping, Rhamphorhynchoidea is not used as a formal group in most scientific literature, though some pterosaur scientists continue to use it as an informal grouping in popular works, such as The Pterosaurs: From Deep Time by David Unwin, and in some formal studies.






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The Rhamphorhynchoidea forms one of the two suborders of pterosaur
Pterosaur

Pterosaurs were flying reptiles of the clade or Order Pterosauria. They existed from the late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous Period . Pterosaurs are the earliest vertebrates known to have evolved powered flight....
s and represent a grade of primitive members of this group of flying reptiles. This suborder is paraphyletic in relation to the Pterodactyloidea
Pterodactyloidea

Pterodactyloidea forms one of the two suborders of pterosaurs , and contains the most advanced members of this group of flying reptiles. They appeared during the middle Jurassic Period, and differ from the basal rhamphorhynchoidea by their short tails and long wing metacarpals ....
, which arose from within the Ramphorhynchoidea, not from a more distant common ancestor. Because it is not a completely natural grouping, Rhamphorhynchoidea is not used as a formal group in most scientific literature, though some pterosaur scientists continue to use it as an informal grouping in popular works, such as The Pterosaurs: From Deep Time by David Unwin, and in some formal studies. Ramphorhynchoids were the first pterosaurs to have appeared, in the late Triassic
Triassic

The Triassic is a geologic period that extends from about 251 to 199 annum . As the first period of the Mesozoic Era, the Triassic follows the Permian and is followed by the Jurassic....
 Period. Unlike their descendants the pterodactyloids, most rhamphorhynchoids had teeth and long tails, and most species lacked a bony crest, though several are known to have crests formed from soft tissue like keratin
Keratin

Keratins are a family of fibrous protein; tough and insoluble, they form the hard but mineral structures found in reptiles, birds, amphibians and mammals....
. They were generally small, and disappeared at the end of the Jurassic
Jurassic

The Jurassic is a geologic period that extends from about annum to  Ma, that is, from the end of the Triassic to the beginning of the Cretaceous....
 Period.

Classification


Taxonomy

Listing of families and superfamilies within the suborder Rhamphorhynchoidea, after Unwin 2006.
  • Order Pterosauria
    • Suborder Rhamphorhynchoidea *
      • Preondactylus
        Preondactylus

        Preondactylus is a genus of long-tailed pterosaur from the Late Triassic that inhabited what is now Italy. It was discovered by Nando Buffarini in 1982 near Udine in the Preone valley of the Italian Alps....
      • Family Dimorphodontidae
        • Dimorphodon
          Dimorphodon

          Dimorphodon was a genus of medium-sized pterosaur from the Early Jurassic Period . It was named by Palaeontology Richard Owen in 1859. Dimorphodon means "two-form tooth" , referring to the fact that it had two distinct types of teeth in its jaws - which is comparatively rare among reptiles....
        • Peteinosaurus
          Peteinosaurus

          Peteinosaurus was a prehistoric reptile genus belonging to the Pterosauria. It existed in the late Triassic period in the middle Norian . The species name, zambellii, honours Rocco Zambelli, the curator of the Bergamo natural history museum....
      • Family Anurognathidae
      • Superfamily Campylognathoidea
        • Family Campylognathoididae
          • Austriadactylus
            Austriadactylus

            Austriadactylus was an unusual genus of rhamphorhynchoid pterosaur. The fossil remains, consisting of skull, lower jaw, some vertebrae, parts of the limbs and pelvic girdle, and the tail, were unearthed in Late Triassic rocks of Austria....
          • Eudimorphodon
            Eudimorphodon

            Eudimorphodon was a pterosaur that was discovered in 1973 by Mario Pandolfi near Bergamo, Italy and described the same year by Rocco Zambelli....
          • Campylognathoides
            Campylognathoides

            Campylognathoides was a genus of rhamphorhynchoid pterosaur, discovered in the W?rttemberg Lias deposits and was the first specimen from the area, consisting of wing fragments....
      • Family Rhamphorhynchidae
        • Subfamily Rhamphorhynchinae
          • Angustinaripterus
            Angustinaripterus

            Angustinaripterus was discovered at Dashanpu Formation near Zigong in the Szechuan province of China. It is known from a single skull.The skull shows large, intermeshing teeth at the tip, and may have been used to snatch fish from the surface of water....
          • Dorygnathus
            Dorygnathus

            Dorygnathus was a genus of pterosaur that lived in Europe during the Early Jurassic period, 190 million years ago when shallow seas flooded much of the continent....
          • Nesodactylus
            Nesodactylus

            Nesodactylus was a genus of rhamphorhynchoid pterosaur from the Oxfordian stage-age Upper Jurassic Jagua Formation of Pinar del Rio, Cuba. It is holotype American Museum of Natural History, a partial skeleton including a skull fragment, numerous vertebrae from all parts of the spine and tail, ossified tendons on the tail, the pectoral gi...
          • Rhamphocephalus
            Rhamphocephalus

            Rhamphocephalus is an extinct genus of pterosaur from the Middle Jurassic of England. Its wingspan was about 2 m ....
          • Rhamphorhynchus
        • Subfamily Scaphognathinae
          • Cacibupteryx
            Cacibupteryx

            Cacibupteryx is a genus of rhamphorhynchid rhamphorhynchoid pterosaur from the middle-late Oxfordian stage-age Upper Jurassic Jagua Formation of Pinar del Rio, Cuba....
          • Harpactognathus
            Harpactognathus

            Harpactognathus was a genus of pterosaur found in the Late Jurassic-age Morrison Formation of Albany County, Wyoming, Wyoming, USA. It is based on North American Museum of Ancient Life, a partial skull consisting of the snout, recovered from near Bone Cabin Quarry in 1996....
          • Pterorhynchus
            Pterorhynchus

            Pterorhynchus was a genus of Rhamphorhynchidae rhamphorhynchoid pterosaur from the Late Jurassic-age Daohugou Formation of Inner Mongolia, People's Republic of China....
          • Scaphognathus
            Scaphognathus

            Scaphognathus was a pterosaur that lived around Germany during the Late Jurassic. It had a wingspan of about 1 meter. At present it is known from only two specimens, both of which originated in the Kimmeridgian-age Solnhofen Limestone....
          • Sordes
            Sordes

            Sordes was a small pterosaur that lived in the late Jurassic Period of the Mesozoic era. Sordes lived in the in the area of Kazakhstan....


  • Rhamphorhynchoids of uncertain relationships (incertae sedis
    Incertae sedis

    Incertae sedis , abbreviation "inc. sed.", is a term used to define a taxonomy group where its broader relationships are unknown or undefined....
    )
    • Comodactylus
      Comodactylus

      Comodactylus is a genus of rhamphorhynchoid pterosaur from the Kimmeridgian-Tithonian-age Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of Wyoming, USA, named for a single wing metacarpal....
    • Laopteryx
      Laopteryx

      Laopteryx is the name assigned to a pterosaur or a bird from the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of Wyoming, USA. A partial skull was discovered at Como Bluff by Othniel Marsh in 1881, who identified it as a bird....
    • Odontorhynchus
    • Parapsicephalus
      Parapsicephalus

      Parapsicephalus was a genus of rhamphorhynchoid pterosaur from the Toarcian-age Lower Jurassic Alum Shale of Whitby, Yorkshire, England. It is known from a partial skull lacking the snout, but including a detailed cast of the brain....
    • Rhamphinion
      Rhamphinion

      Rhamphinion was a genus of pterosaur from the Sinemurian-Pliensbachian-age Lower Jurassic Kayenta Formation of northeastern Arizona, USA. It is holotype Museum of Northern Arizona, a partial skull including the occipital bone region, a partial left jugal, a fragment of the mandible including two preserved teeth and the impression of a th...


Phylogeny

Cladogram after Unwin (2003). For alternate cladograms, see List of pterosaur classifications
List of pterosaur classifications

This list of pterosaur classifications entails the various schemes used to classify pterosaurs throughout the years and varying views of these animals....
. In phylogenetic taxonomy, "rhamphorhynchoids" consist of all basal
Basal (phylogenetics)

In phylogenetics, a basal clade is the earliest clade to branch in a larger clade; it appears at the base of a cladogram.A basal group form an outgroup to the rest of the clade, such as in the following example:...
 (primitive) pterosaurs that do not belong to the clade Pterodactyloidea
Pterodactyloidea

Pterodactyloidea forms one of the two suborders of pterosaurs , and contains the most advanced members of this group of flying reptiles. They appeared during the middle Jurassic Period, and differ from the basal rhamphorhynchoidea by their short tails and long wing metacarpals ....
.

Pterosauria |-?Comodactylus
Comodactylus

Comodactylus is a genus of rhamphorhynchoid pterosaur from the Kimmeridgian-Tithonian-age Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of Wyoming, USA, named for a single wing metacarpal....
 |-?Laopteryx
Laopteryx

Laopteryx is the name assigned to a pterosaur or a bird from the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of Wyoming, USA. A partial skull was discovered at Como Bluff by Othniel Marsh in 1881, who identified it as a bird....
 |-?Odontorhynchus |-?Rhamphinion
Rhamphinion

Rhamphinion was a genus of pterosaur from the Sinemurian-Pliensbachian-age Lower Jurassic Kayenta Formation of northeastern Arizona, USA. It is holotype Museum of Northern Arizona, a partial skull including the occipital bone region, a partial left jugal, a fragment of the mandible including two preserved teeth and the impression of a th...
 |-?Preondactylus
Preondactylus

Preondactylus is a genus of long-tailed pterosaur from the Late Triassic that inhabited what is now Italy. It was discovered by Nando Buffarini in 1982 near Udine in the Preone valley of the Italian Alps....
 `--Macronychoptera |--Dimorphodontidae `--Caelidracones |--Anurognathidae `--Lonchognatha |--Campylognathoididae `--Breviquartossa |--Rhamphorhynchidae | |--Scaphognathinae | `--Rhamphorhynchinae `--Pterodactyloidea
Pterodactyloidea

Pterodactyloidea forms one of the two suborders of pterosaurs , and contains the most advanced members of this group of flying reptiles. They appeared during the middle Jurassic Period, and differ from the basal rhamphorhynchoidea by their short tails and long wing metacarpals ....