Pterodactyloidea Pterodactyloidea Pterodactyloidea (derived from the Greek words "πτερόν" ("pterón", for usual "ptéryx") "wing", and "δάκτυλος" ("dáctylos") "finger" meaning "winged finger", "wing-finger" or "finger-wing") is one of the two traditional suborders of pterosaurs ("wing lizards"), and contains the most derived members of this group of flying reptiles. They appeared during the middle Jurassic Period, and differ from the basal (though paraphyletic) rhamphorhynchoids by their short tails and long wing metacarpals (hand bones). The most advanced forms also lack teeth, and by the late Cretaceous, all known pterodactyloids were toothless. Many species had well developed crests on the skull, a form of
Desert plated lizard reclassified as "Gerrhosaurus skoogi". Desert plated lizard The desert plated lizard ("Gerrhosaurus skoogi") is a reptile species endemic to the northern Namib Desert in Namibia and Angola. Also known as the sand plated lizard, it is diurnal. The specific name, "skoogi", is in honor of Hilmer Nils Erik Skoog (1870–1927), who was Curator of the "" from 1904 to 1927. In 1916 Andersson described this lizard as a new species, naming it "Gerrhosaurus skoogi". In 1953 FitzSimons assigned the species to a new genus "Angolosaurus". Recent studies suggest that this monotypic genus is synonymous to "Gerrhosaurus" and makes it paraphyletic;