This early group did well from the Upper Triassic to the Lower Cretaceous.
When we first see them in the fossil record they have developed three families, so biologists know their early evolution is not yet revealed.p240, 246 These three families are represented by the three genera Rhamphorhynchus, Dimorphodon and Eudimorphodon.
At least one more family appears at the start of the Jurassic, the Anurognathidae.

The group had a long tail, usually stiffened by rod-like bony tendons to keep it straight.
This shows that their flight was extremely stable, which means it kept on course, rather than darted about.
This feature is also found in Archaeopteryx and in early bats, and in insects like dragonflies.

To understand this, it helps to know some basic things about flight aerodynamics and stability.
Early planes were highly stable, and so are airliners.
To dart about quickly requires special advanced brains and reflexes, which later birds and pterosaurs had, but early ones did not.
The analogy in planes would be fighter planes, which need such fast reactions that the details are worked out by computer, with the pilot indicating where to go.
It requires more brains to control unstable flight than it does stable flight.

All species in the group have teeth.
This again has a parallel with birds; Archaeopteryx and many Cretaceous birds have teeth; modern birds do not.
The disadvantage of teeth is that they are quite heavy; when the animal can do without them, they will gradually get selected out.
Obviously, without teeth food cannot be chewed, but there are ways around that.
Stones in the gizzard or stomach do the grinding in some birds.

For a long time it was thought that the group died out at the end of the Jurassic, which was a minor extinction event.
Even near the end of the Jurassic, Rhamphorhynchus was the most common pterosaur found at the famous Archaeopteryx site at Solnhofen in Bavaria, Germany, and now it is known that the group survived until the Lower Cretaceous. "
Until recently, it was thought that rhamphorhynchoids died out at the end of the Jurassic, but new finds in the Jehol sequence of northeast China [show] that in this part of the world they survived until at least the middle of the Lower Cretaceous".

A single specimen of the insect-eating Anurognathus was also found at Solnhofen.
It had a shorter tail than any other rhamphorhynchoid.
This suggests its need to dodge about to catch insects: "agile and highly manoeuvrable".ᵖ²⁷⁰
This early group did well from the Upper Triassic to the Lower Cretaceous. When we first see them in the fossil record they have developed three families, so biologists know their early evolution is not yet revealed.p240, 246 These three families are represented by the three genera Rhamphorhynchus, Dimorphodon and Eudimorphodon. At least one more family appears at the start of the Jurassic, the Anurognathidae.
The group had a long tail, usually stiffened by rod-like bony tendons to keep it straight. This shows that their flight was extremely stable, which means it kept on course, rather than darted about. This feature is also found in Archaeopteryx and in early bats, and in insects like dragonflies.
To understand this, it helps to know some basic things about flight aerodynamics and stability. Early planes were highly stable, and so are airliners. To dart about quickly requires special advanced brains and reflexes, which later birds and pterosaurs had, but early ones did not. The analogy in planes would be fighter planes, which need such fast reactions that the details are worked out by computer, with the pilot indicating where to go. It requires more brains to control unstable flight than it does stable flight.
All species in the group have teeth. This again has a parallel with birds; Archaeopteryx and many Cretaceous birds have teeth; modern birds do not. The disadvantage of teeth is that they are quite heavy; when the animal can do without them, they will gradually get selected out. Obviously, without teeth food cannot be chewed, but there are ways around that. Stones in the gizzard or stomach do the grinding in some birds.
For a long time it was thought that the group died out at the end of the Jurassic, which was a minor extinction event. Even near the end of the Jurassic, Rhamphorhynchus was the most common pterosaur found at the famous Archaeopteryx site at Solnhofen in Bavaria, Germany, and now it is known that the group survived until the Lower Cretaceous. "Until recently, it was thought that rhamphorhynchoids died out at the end of the Jurassic, but new finds in the Jehol sequence of northeast China [show] that in this part of the world they survived until at least the middle of the Lower Cretaceous".
A single specimen of the insect-eating Anurognathus was also found at Solnhofen. It had a shorter tail than any other rhamphorhynchoid. This suggests its need to dodge about to catch insects: "agile and highly manoeuvrable".ᵖ²⁷⁰
Pterosaur