Editing Pteranodon (section)

===Disused species===
[[File:Williston Pteranodon.jpg|thumb|left|S.W. Williston's reconstruction of ''Ornithostoma ingens'', a synonym of ''P. longiceps'']]

A number of additional species of ''Pteranodon'' have been named since the 1870s, although most now are considered to be junior synonyms of two or three valid species. The best-supported is the [[type species]], ''P. longiceps'', based on the well-preserved specimen including the first-known skull found by S. W. Williston. This individual had a wingspan of {{convert|7|m|ft|sp=us}}.<ref name=PW96>{{cite book |last=Wellnhofer |first=Peter |title=The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Pterosaurs |orig-year=1991 |year=1996 |publisher=Barnes and Noble Books |location=New York |isbn=978-0-7607-0154-6 |pages=139}}</ref> Other valid species include the possibly larger ''P. sternbergi'', with a wingspan originally estimated at {{convert|9|m|ft|0|abbr=on}}.<ref name=PW96/> ''P. oweni'' (''P. occidentalis''), ''P. velox'', ''P. umbrosus'', ''P. harpyia'', and ''P. comptus'' are considered to be ''nomina dubia'' by Bennett (1994) and others who question their validity. All probably are synonymous with the more well-known species.

Because the key distinguishing characteristic Marsh noted for ''Pteranodon'' was its lack of teeth, any toothless pterosaur jaw fragment, wherever it was found in the world, tended to be attributed to ''Pteranodon'' during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This resulted in a plethora of species and a great deal of confusion. The name became a [[wastebasket taxon]], rather like the dinosaur ''[[Megalosaurus]]'', to label any pterosaur remains that could not be distinguished other than by the absence of teeth. Species (often dubious ones now known to be based on sexual variation or juvenile characters) have been reclassified a number of times, and several [[Genus|subgenera]] have in the 1970s been erected by Halsey Wilkinson Miller to hold them in various combinations, further confusing the taxonomy (subgenera include ''Longicepia'', ''Occidentalia'', and ''Geosternbergia''). Notable authors who have discussed the various aspects of ''Pteranodon'' include Bennett, Padian, Unwin, Kellner, and Wellnhofer. Two species, ''P. oregonensis'' and ''P. orientalis'', are not pteranodontids and have been renamed ''[[Bennettazhia]] oregonensis'' and ''[[Bogolubovia]] orientalis'' respectively.