Editing Pteranodon (section)

===First fossils===
''Pteranodon'' was the first pterosaur found outside of [[Europe]]. Its fossils first were found by [[Othniel Charles Marsh]] in 1871,<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Witton|first=Mark Paul|date=2010|title=Pteranodon and beyond: The history of giant pterosaurs from 1870 onwards|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/258391482|journal=Geological Society, London, Special Publications|volume=343|issue=1|pages=313–323|doi=10.1144/SP343.19|bibcode=2010GSLSP.343..313W|s2cid=128801077|via=ResearchGate}}</ref> 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 renamed his giant North American pterosaur ''Pterodactylus occidentalis'', meaning "Western wing finger," in his 1872 description of the new specimen. He named two additional species, based on size differences: ''Pterodactylus ingens'' (the largest specimen so far), and ''Pterodactylus velox'' (the smallest).<ref name= bennett1994/>

Meanwhile, Marsh's rival [[Edward Drinker Cope]] 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').<ref name=bennett1994/> 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.<ref name=bennett1994/> 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.<ref name=cope1875>Cope, E.D. (1875). "The Vertebrata of the Cretaceous formations of the West." ''Report, U. S. Geological Survey of the Territories (Hayden)'', '''2''': 302 pp., 57 pls.</ref> Re-evaluation by later scientists has supported Marsh's case, refuting Cope's assertion that ''P. umbrosus'' represented a larger, distinct species.<ref name=bennett1994/>