By early in 1873, Marsh had recognized his error. Through further preparation and exposure of skull bones from the rock, he found that the toothed jaws must have come from the bird itself and not a marine reptile. Due to the previously unknown features of "Ichthyornis" (vertebrae concave on either side and teeth), Marsh chose to classify it in an entirely new sub-class of birds he called the Odontornithes (or "toothed birds"), and in the new order Ichthyornithes (later Ichthyornithiformes). The only other bird Marsh included in these groups was the newly named "Apatornis", which he had previously named as a species of "Ichthyornis", "I. celer". Mudge later noted the rare and unique quality of these toothed birds (including "Hesperornis", which was found to also have teeth by 1877), and the irony of their association with the remains of toothless pterosaurs, flying reptiles which were only known to have had teeth in other regions of the world at that time.