Timeline of pterosaur research

This timeline of pterosaur research is a chronologically ordered list of important fossil discoveries, controversies of interpretation, and taxonomic revisions of pterosaurs, the famed flying reptiles of the Mesozoic era. Although pterosaurs went extinct millions of years before humans evolved, humans have coexisted with pterosaur fossils for millennia. Before the development of paleontology as a formal science, these remains would have been interpreted through a mythological lens. Myths about thunderbirds told by the Native Americans of the modern western United States may have been influenced by observations of "Pteranodon" fossils. These thunderbirds were said to have warred with water monsters, which agrees well with the co-occurrence of "Pteranodon" and the ancient marine reptiles of the seaway over which it flew.
The formal study of pterosaurs began in the late 18th century when naturalist Cosimo Alessandro Collini of Mannheim, Germany published a description of an unusual animal with long arms, each bearing an elongated finger. He recognized that this long finger could support a membrane like that of a bat wing, but because the unnamed creature was found in deposits that preserve marine life he concluded that these strange arms were used as flippers. The creature was restudied again in the very early 19th century by French anatomist Georges Cuvier, who recognized both that the creature was a reptile and that its "flippers" were wings. He called the creature the "Ptero-dactyle", a name since revised to "Pterodactylus".
Although Cuvier's interpretation later became the consensus, it was just one of many early interpretations of the creature and its relatives, including that they were bats, strange birds, or the primordial handiwork of Satan himself. Similar animals like the long-tailed "Rhamphorhynchus" and "Gnathosaurus" were soon discovered around Europe and it became obvious that earth was once home to a diverse group of flying reptiles. The British anatomist Sir Richard Owen dubbed this vanished order the Pterosauria. Soon after, he described Britain's own first pterosaur, "Dimorphodon". Later in the 19th century pterosaurs were discovered in North America as well, the first of which was a spectacular animal named "Pteranodon" by paleontologist Othniel Charles Marsh.
Various aspects of pterosaur biology invited controversy from the beginning. Samuel Thomas von Soemmering ignited a multi-century debate over how pterosaurs walked on the ground by suggesting they crawled on all fours like bats. August Quenstedt, by contrast, argued that they walked on their hind limbs. In the early 20th century, Hankin and Watson in the first major study of pterosaur flight biomechanics concluded that on the ground these reptiles were altogether helpless and could only scoot along on their stomachs like penguins. The debate gained steam in 1957 when William Stokes reported unusual tracks left by a four-footed animal he suspected was a pterosaur walking along the ground. In 1984, Kevin Padian, who had recently argued that pterosaurs walked on their hind legs, dismissed Stokes's tracks as those of a crocodilian. However, in the mid-1990s, Jean-Michel Mazin and others reported that fossil footprints in Crayssac, France were similar to those reported by Stokes from the US. Mazin's tracks were more obviously pterosaurian in origin and settled the debate in favor of pterosaurs walking on all fours.
Pterosaur paleontology continues to progress into the 21st century. In fact, according to David Hone the early 21st century has seen more progress in pterosaur paleontology than in "the preceding two centuries" combined. He compared this transformative period in pterosaur paleontology to the Dinosaur Renaissance of the 1970s. He also observed that roughly one-third of known pterosaurs were discovered during this brief interval. One of the most notable of these was "Darwinopterus", whose body resembled the more primitive long-tailed "rhamphorynchoids", while its skull resembled those of the more advanced short-tailed pterodactyloids. These traits establish the species as an important transitional form, documenting one of the most important phases of pterosaur evolution. Another important new species is "Faxinalipterus minima", which might well be the world's oldest pterosaur. The first confirmed pterosaur eggs were also reported from China during the early 21st century.
18th century.
1780s.
1784
19th century.
1800s.
1801
1802
1807
1809
1810s.
1812
1817
1819
1820s.
1824
c. 1825
1827
1829
1830s.
1830
1831
1832
1833
1834
1836
1839
1840s.
1840
1842
1843
1847
1850s.
1851
1855
1855
1856
1859
1850s – 1860s.
1859 – 1860
1860s.
1860
1861
1862
1863
1869
1870s.
1870
"November, late"
"November – December 31st"
1871
1872
"March 7th"
"March 12th"
"March 12th – December 31st"
1874
1875
1876
"May"
"May – December 31st"
1877
1880s.
1881
1882
1884
1886
1887
1888
1890s.
1891
1892
In this paper Williston also described a new, relatively complete "Nyctosaurus" specimen. He noted that the only published trait distinguishing the genus from "Pterodactylus" was an absence of teeth and recommended synonymizing these two genera if "Nyctosaurus" teeth were ever found.
1893
1895
1896
1897
20th century.
1900s.
1901
1902
1903
1904
1907
1910s.
1910
1911
1913
1914
1918
1920s.
1920
1921
1922
1923
1925
1927
1928
1929
1930s.
1937
1938
1939
1940s.
1940
1943
1948
1950s.
1952
1954
1956
1957
1958
1960s.
1962
1963
1964
1966
1968
1969
1970s.
1970
1971
1973
1974
1975
1977
1978
1979
1980s.
1980
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990s.
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
"June 1st"
"June 29–30th"
1997
1998
"May"
"June"
1999
21st century.
2000s.
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
"May"
"July"
2005
2006
2007
"April"
2008
2009
2010s.
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020s.
2020