Publication Date
12-4-1984
Series Number
194
Abstract
The type specimens of the nine named species of the Cretaceous pterodactyls Pteranodon and Nyctosaurus housed in the Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, Vertebrate Paleontology Collections are documented and lectotypes for Pteranodon occidentalis, Pteranodon ingens and Pteranodon comptus are herein designated. A thorough revision of Pteranodon and Nyctosaurus should consider all eighteen named species which have been referred to these genera and should also include specimens currently dispersed throughout numerous museums on several continents. However, preliminary to such a revision, based on the Peabody Museum Collections the following systematic suggestions can be made: 1) Pteranodon longiceps and P. marshi are junior subjective synonyms of P. ingens. 2) P. comptus is a junior subjective synonym of P. velox. 3) P. eatoni is a junior subjective synonym of P. occidentalis. 4) "Nyctosaurus" nanus may be better referred to Pteranodon.