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).
Temnodontosaurus
Discovery
The first ichthyosaur skull ever discovered was that of "Temnodontosaurus platyodon". The specimen (BMNH 2149) was found in the Lias of Lyme Regis by Joseph Anning in 1811. The rest of the skeleton was recovered in 1812 by his sister, Mary Anning, but has been lost since. The ichthyosaur was subsequently described by the anatomist Sir Everard Home, in what was the first scientific description of an ichthyosaur. "T. platyodon" is the type species of "Temnodontosaurus" and the most common species. The type skull is currently located at the Natural History Museum in London. The specimen was originally named "Ichthyosaurus platyodon" but then renamed "Temnodontosaurus". The genus "Temnodontosaurus" was named by Richard Lydekker in 1889.
"Temnodontosaurus" is the only genus in the family Temnodontosauridae. The family Temnodontosauridae was described by C. McGowan and is from the Lower Liassic. Temnodontosauridae is part of the monophyletic group Neoichthyosauria, a clade named by Martin Sander in 2000 that includes the families Temnodontosauridae, Leptonectidae and Suevoleviathanidae. "Temnodontosaurus" is one of the most basal post-Triassic ichthyosaurs.