Geosternbergia was traditionally considered a species, or occasionally subgenus, of the similar pterosaur Pteranodon, in most major studies of pteranodontians through the 1990s.
However, a 2010 review of the group by A.W.A. Kellner suggested that Pteranodon sternbergi was different enough from P. longiceps to belong in a distinct genus, to which Kellner also referred a new species, Geosternbergia maiseyi.
Earlier, pterosaur researcher Chris Bennett had considered the G. maiseyi specimen an adult male P. longiceps.

Below is a cladogram showing the phylogenetic placement of this genus within Pteranodontia from Andres and Myers (2013).
Geosternbergia was traditionally considered a species, or occasionally subgenus, of the similar pterosaur Pteranodon, in most major studies of pteranodontians through the 1990s. However, a 2010 review of the group by A.W.A. Kellner suggested that Pteranodon sternbergi was different enough from P. longiceps to belong in a distinct genus, to which Kellner also referred a new species, Geosternbergia maiseyi. Earlier, pterosaur researcher Chris Bennett had considered the G. maiseyi specimen an adult male P. longiceps.
Below is a cladogram showing the phylogenetic placement of this genus within Pteranodontia from Andres and Myers (2013).
Geosternbergia