Pterosaurs Evolution: A spinoff to Dinosaur Evolution.

Okay this is a spinoff post to my Dinosaur Evolution post.

This topic will discuss the evolution of the Pterosaur, now like their cousins the dinosaurs, the pterosaur are members of the group Avemetatarsalia which includes the subclade Ornithodira; the clade that holds the Pterosauromorphs and the Dinosauromorphs.

Pterosauromorphs clade contains all Pterosaur clades including their extinct ancestral members. Now not many non-pterosaur pterosauromorphs have been recovered so their evolutionary history remains a little incomplete when compared to the dinosauromorphs but we do have at least some idea how pterosauromorphs might of looked before evolving into pterosaurs. 

Scleromochlus is possibly a rare basal Pterosauromorph, if true then pterosaurs evolved from these strange kangaroo hopping reptiles. However some scientists believe that Scleromochlus might be a basal Avemetatarsalian Ornithodira or a basal Avemetatarsalian thats outside of the clade Ornithodira.

But on to Pterosaurs, we can divide Pterosaurs in to the follow following main clades: Eopterosauria and Macronychoptera which both evolved in the Late Triassic from a common ancestor.

Eopterosaurs were the most common variety of Pterosaurs in the Late Triassic as they overshadow their Macronychoptera cousins. Eopterosaurs were further divided in to two additional clades: Preondactylia and Eudimorphodontoidea.

Preondactylia holds the namesake genera Preondactylus, who had had rather short wings but was still able to fly and it was possibly an insectivore or a piscivore (or both) and its relative Austriadactylus.

Eudimorphodontoidae holds the genera Eudimorphodon, Carniadactylus, and Arcticodactylus which belong to the Eudimorphodontidae family, while Peteinosaurus represents a more basal member of Eudomorphodontoidae, while Raeticodactylus belongs to the Eudomorphodontoid Raeticodactylidae family.

This concludes the Eopterosauria's evolution as they mysterious die out after the Triassic period. Their cousins the Macronychoptera were left to dominate the Early Jurassic skies and beyond (Before they too would become extinct at the K-Pg extinction along with the non-avian dinosaurs) but for now we move on to Jurassic Pterosaurs.

Clades like the basal macronychopterans Dimorphodontia, the more advanced Novialoids like the basal novialoid Campylognathoids and the advanced novialoid clade Breviquartossa which includes the Rhamphorhynchidae family and the advanced Pterodactylomorpha which includes its basal member the Sordes and its more developed cousins the mid-jurassic Monofenestrata pterosaurs.

The Monofenestrata pterosaurs are further divided in to two main clades: Darwinoptera (which includes Pterorhynchus and Wukongopteridae) and the Pterodactyliformes

Pterodactliformes include basal member Changchengopterus, and the Caelidracones, we are almost close to its more famous members.

Caelidracones are then divided in to the basal Anurognathidae and the advanced and ever so popular Pterodactyloidea, appearing as early as the Late Jurassic.

Pterodactyloidea includes its basal member Kryptodrakon and the advanced Lophocratia clade.

Lophocratia is then divided in to Archaeopterodactyloidea and Eupterodactyloidea.

Archaeopterodactyloidea contains the basal Germanodactylidae and the clade Euctenochasmatia which includes its basal member Pterodactylus, alongside Ardeadactylus and Ctenochasmatoids like Gallodactylidae and Ctenochasmatidae.

Eupterodactyloidea contains its basal member Haopterus, and the advanced clade Ornithocheiroidea which is divided in to the clades: Pteranodontia and Azhdarchoidea.

Pteranodontia includes basal members like Nyctosauridae, and the advanced Pteranodontoidea which includes the Pteranodontidae family (which houses the famous Pteranodon) and the clade Ornithocheiromorpha (click link to know more). 

Azhdarchoidea includes the bizzare Tapejaromorphs and the Neoazhdarchia which leads to the basal Microtuban, the Dsungaripteromorpha, and the Neopterodactyloidea.

(i'll finish more later)