A pterodactyl was a flying reptile that lived on the planet Earth millions of years ago. It coexisted with dinosaurs.
In 2269, an away team from the Template:ShipClass starship Enterprise encountered artificial physical manifestations of a group of pterodactyls on the Shore Leave Planet. They were the first indication that the planet's computer was malfunctioning and creating simulations which it was not meant to. (TAS: "Once Upon a Planet")
Two species of pterosaur were seen in the episode. The crested, tailless one on the left appears to be a Cretaceous period Pteranodon, and the long-tailed one on the right seems to be an earlier, Jurassic species.