Pteranodon
"Pteranodon" was the first pterosaur found outside of Europe. Its fossils first were found by Othniel Charles Marsh in 1870, in the Late Cretaceous Smoky Hill Chalk deposits of western Kansas. These chalk beds were deposited at the bottom of what was once the Western Interior Seaway, a large shallow sea over what now is the midsection of the North American continent. These first specimens, YPM 1160 and YPM 1161, consisted of partial wing bones, as well as a tooth from the prehistoric fish "Xiphactinus", which Marsh mistakenly believed to belong to this new pterosaur (all known pterosaurs up to that point had teeth). In 1871, Marsh named the find ""Pterodactylus oweni"", assigning it to the well-known (but much smaller) European genus "Pterodactylus". Marsh also collected more wing bones of the large pterosaur in 1871. Realizing that the name he had chosen had already been used for Harry Seeley's European pterosaur species "Pterodactylus oweni" in 1864, Marsh re-named his giant North American pterosaur Pterodactylus occidentalis, meaning "Western wing finger," in his 1872 description of the new specimen. He also named two additional species, based on size differences: Pterodactylus ingens (the largest specimen so far), and Pterodactylus velox (the smallest).
Paleontology in Utah
One of the earliest expeditions into Utah occurred during the summer and fall of 1870, when an expedition led by O. C. Marsh collected fossils in on behalf of Yale University. Later, in 1908, paleontologist Earl Douglass was excavating fossils on behalf of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Director Holland of the museum visited Douglass's camp that year. In September, Holland suggested that Douglass search for Jurassic dinosaur fossils in the Uinta Mountains north of his camp. Previous surveyors and paleontologists had noted dinosaur fossils of that age there and Holland suspected that they were promising hunting grounds. Douglass agreed and they set off to the Uinta Mountains the next day. Together they found a "Diplodocus" femur southeast of Split Mountain near the Green River. Encouraged by the discovery of the femur, Douglass returned to the Uinta Mountains the next year. Douglass had little luck during the spring and early part of the summer, but on August 17 he found a series of eight fossil "Apatosaurus" tail vertebrae, still articulated. On receiving word of the discovery, Holland returned to the site.