Pterodactylus Temporal range: Upper Jurassic
Pterodactylus kochi
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Sauropsida
Order:	Pterosauria
Suborder:	Pterodactyloidea
Family:	Pterodactylidae
Genus:	Pterodactylus Cuvier, 1809

Pterodactylus was a small pterosaur or flying reptile. It lived in the later Jurassic period, at the same time as many dinosaurs. Pterodactylus is typical of the short-tailed pterosaurs, a sub-order which continued to the end of the Cretaceous. The first specimens were found at Solnhofen in Bavaria, Germany. Also found in these strata was the famous Archaeopteryx.

These carbonate strata formed in warm lagoons. Pterodactylus may have lived on small islands in the lagoon, or on the coast. More likely, it lived further inland and was blown here in a storm. The high salinity would support little life, so the pterosaurs would have fed in some other area.

Pterodactylus - American Museum of Natural History.