Pteranodon
Pteranodon (; from Greek πτερόν ( pteron, "wing") and ἀνόδων (anodon, "toothless") is a genus of pterosaur that included some of the largest known flying reptiles, with wingspans over 8 meters (26 feet). They lived during the late Cretaceous geological period of North America in present-day Kansas, Alabama, Nebraska, Wyoming, and South Dakota. More fossil specimens of "Pteranodon" have been found than any other pterosaur, with about 1,200 specimens known to science, many of them well preserved with nearly complete skulls and articulated skeletons. It was an important part of the animal community in the Western Interior Seaway.
Pteranodon
Meanwhile, Marsh's rival Edward Drinker Cope also had unearthed several specimens of the large North American pterosaur. Based on these specimens, Cope named two new species, Ornithochirus umbrosus and Ornithochirus harpyia, in an attempt to assign them to the large European genus "Ornithocheirus", though he misspelled the name (forgetting the 'e'). Cope's paper naming his species was published in 1872, just five days after Marsh's paper. This resulted in a dispute, fought in the published literature, over whose names had priority in what obviously were the same species. Cope conceded in 1875 that Marsh's names did have priority over his, but maintained that "Pterodactylus umbrosus" was a distinct species (but not genus) from any that Marsh had named previously. Re-evaluation by later scientists has supported Marsh's case, and found that Cope's assertion that "P. umbrosus" was a larger, distinct species were incorrect.