Isn the word “pterodactyl” interchangeable with “pterosaur?
Although “pterodactyl” (wing finger) is often used interchangeably with (and more often for) “pterosaur,” strictly speaking, it should only be applied to the genus Pterodactylus, a small, short-tailed form that lived in the Late Jurassic some 150 million years ago. The word “pterodactyloid” is applied to short-tailed forms in general.
