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Pterodactyl is a general term for winged reptiles, properly called pterosaurs, which belong to the taxonomic order of Pterosauria. Scientists usually avoid using this term and concentrate on individual genera, such as Pterodactylus and Pteranodon.

According to David Hone, a palaeontologist at the Queen Mary University of London, there are at least 130 valid genera of pterosaurs. They were widespread and lived in many places around the world, from China to Germany and America.

Pterosaurs first appeared in the late Triassic Period and roamed around the world at the end of the Cretaceous Period (228–66 million years ago), according to an article published in 2008 in the German scientific journal Zitteliana. Pterosaurs lived among the dinosaurs and extinct around the same time, but they were not dinosaurs. Instead, the pterosaurs were flying reptiles.

Modern birds are not descended from pterosaurs; the ancestors of the birds were small feathered terrestrial dinosaurs.

The first pterosaur discovered was Pterodactylus, identified in 1784 by Italian scientist Cosimo Collini, who believes he had discovered a sea creature that uses its wings as paddles.

Built to Fly

Like other flying animals, pterosaurs lift with their wings. They had to perform the same types of movements as birds and bats, but their wings developed independently of each other, developing their own distinct aerodynamic structure.

Pterosaurs flew with their forelimbs. Their long, thin wings developed from the same part of the body as our hands. As the bones of the arms and hands of the pterosaurs develop to fly, they lengthen, and the bones of one finger – the equivalent of our ring finger – become extraordinarily long. Like the mast of a ship, these bones supported the surface of the wing, a thin flap of skin that was shaped like a sail.

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