• Kingdom Animalia (animals)
• Phylum Chordata (chordates)
• Subphylum Vertebrata (vertebrates)
• Superclass Tetrapoda (four-legged animals)
• Class Reptilia (reptiles) or
• Class Diapsids - these include all the reptiles (except turtles) and birds. They are distinguished by having two holes in the rear upper part of their skulls and two holes behind the eyes.
• Sublass Archosauria - this group includes dinosaurs, crocodilians, pterosaurs, birds, etc.
• Order Pterosauria - (flying reptiles)
• Suborder Pterodactyloidea ("wing finger") - later pterosaurs that appeared late in the Jurassic and died in the K-T extinction, 65 million years ago, that had short tails. Examples include Pterodactylus, Pteranodon, and Quetzalcoatlus.
• Family Pteranodontidae
• Genus Pteranodon
• Species P. longiceps (Marsh, 1876, the type species), P. eatoni, P. ingens, P. marshi, P. occidentalis, P. oregonensis, P. sternbergi, P. walkeri. The different Pteranodon species all had large head crests, but they were slightly different. For example, the long head crest of P. longiceps and P. ingens stuck out behind the head, but the head crest of P. sternbergi was more upright.

DIET
Although they had no teeth, Pteranodons were carnivores. They ate fish (which they caught at the surface of the oceans), mollusks, crabs, insects, and scavenged dead animals on land. They may have hunted like modern-day pelicans, scooping fish out of the water and swallowing them whole.

LOCOMOTION
Pteranodons could flap their wings and fly with power. They flew long distances using large, light-weight wings.

DISCOVERY OF FOSSILS
Many Pteranodon fossils have been found in the USA (in Kansas) and in England. Pteranodon was named by Othneil C. Marsh in 1876. The University of Kansas, in Lawrence, Kansas, USA has over 480 Pteranodon specimens. The first Pteranodon skull was found on May 2, 1876, in Smoky Hill River, Wallace County, Kansas, USA by S. W. Williston, a fossil collector working for Othniel Marsh.

PTERANODON ACTIVITIES AND PRINTOUTS
Pteranodon printout - information plus a Pteranodon to color.

Pteranodon Brief Fact Sheet - or a printable version.