The original species, "Pterodactylus münsteri", remained misclassified until a re-evaluation was published by Richard Owen in an 1861 book, in which he renamed it as "Rhamphorhynchus münsteri". The type specimen of "R. muensteri", described by Münster and Goldfuss, was lost during World War II. If available, a new specimen, or neotype, is designated as the type specimen if the original is lost or deemed too poorly preserved. Peter Wellnhofer declined to designate a neotype in his 1975 review of the genus, because a number of high-quality casts of the original specimen were still available in museum collections. These can serve as plastotypes.