 In 1870 Richard Owen named "Pterodactylus validus" based on holotype NHMUK 40653, a thirty centimeter long partial wing finger phalanx from the Purbeck Limestone (Britain), identified as that of a pterosaur.The specific name means "strong" in Latin.In 1868 Seeley had obtained a vertebra and lower jaw (catalogued CAMSM J.5340 and J.5339 respectively) from a quarry near Langton Matravers; in 1869 he had informally named these "Pterodactylus macrurus".