Editing Pteranodon (section)

===Alternative classifications===
[[File:Old Pteranodon mount.jpg|thumb|left|''P. occidentalis'' mount wherein arms, shoulder girdle, and fingers are actual bones, and the rest has been drawn from other specimens.]]
Due to the subtle variations between specimens of pteranodontid from the Niobrara Formation, most researchers have assigned all of them to the single genus ''Pteranodon'', in at least two species (''P. longiceps'' and ''P. sternbergi'') distinguished mainly by the shape of the crest. However, the classification of these two forms has varied from researcher to researcher. In 1972, Halsey Wilkinson Miller published a paper arguing that the various forms of ''Pteranodon'' were different enough to be placed in distinct subgenera. He named these ''Pteranodon (Occidentalia) occidentalis'' (for the now-disused species ''P. occidentalis'') and ''Pteranodon (Sternbergia) sternbergi''. However, the name ''Sternbergia'' was preoccupied, and in 1978 Miller re-named the species ''Pteranodon (Geosternbergia) sternbergi'', and named a third subgenus/species combination for ''P. longiceps'', as ''Pteranodon (Longicepia) longiceps''. Most prominent pterosaur researchers of the late 20th century however, including S. Christopher Bennett and [[Peter Wellnhofer]], did not adopt these subgeneric names, and continued to place all pteranodont species into the single genus ''Pteranodon''.

In 2010, pterosaur researcher [[Alexander Kellner]] revisited H.W. Miller's classification. Kellner followed Miller's opinion that the differences between the ''Pteranodon'' species were great enough to place them into different genera. He placed ''P. sternbergi'' into the genus named by Miller, ''Geosternbergia'', along with the Pierre Shale skull specimen which Bennett had previously considered to be a large male ''P. longiceps''. Kellner argued that this specimen's crest, though incompletely preserved, was most similar to ''Geosternbergia''. Because the specimen was millions of years younger than any known ''Geosternbergia'', he assigned it to the new species ''[[Pteranodon sternbergi|Geosternbergia maiseyi]]''. Numerous other pteranodont specimens are known from the same formation and time period, and Kellner suggested they may belong to the same species as ''[[Pteranodon sternbergi|G. maiseyi]]'', but because they lack skulls, he could not confidently identify them.<ref name=kellner2010/> However, both species previously referred to ''Geosternbergia'' were separately included as those of ''Pteranodon'' (''P. sternbergi'' and ''P. maiseyi'') based on phylogenetic analysis in 2024.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Pêgas |first1=Rodrigo V. |date=2024-06-10 |title=A taxonomic note on the tapejarid pterosaurs from the Pterosaur Graveyard site (Caiuá Group, ?Early Cretaceous of Southern Brazil): evidence for the presence of two species |journal=[[Historical Biology]] |language=en |pages=1–22 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/381306918 |doi=10.1080/08912963.2024.2355664 |issn=0891-2963}}</ref>