Fossil remains of Cearadactylus dated back to the Albian stage of the Early Cretaceous period, about 112 million years ago.

This kinked upper jaw and its interlocking teeth suggested a piscivorous diet, allowing the animal to keep hold of slippery fish.

The skull consists of two pieces, the front and the back part, glued together by fossil traders; it is uncertain whether they belong to the same individual or indeed to the same species.

[3] In 2010, Kellner entered the new information into three existing databases of pterosaur features, to calculate through cladistic analysis the position of Cearadactylus in the phylogenetic tree.

In 2012, Pereda-Suberbiola et al. found Cearadactylus within the group Ctenochasmatoidea, part of a polytomy that also comprises Gnathosaurus and Ardeadactylus (identified as Pterodactylus longicolum in the analysis).

[8][9][10] A phylogenetic analysis by Pentland et al. in 2019 for example, had found Cearadactylus in a derived position within the Anhangueria, just outside the Ornithocheirae, which, by their definition, is the clade that contains the families Ornithocheiridae and Anhangueridae.

[10] Guidraco Brasileodactylus Ludodactylus Cearadactylus Liaoningopterus Anhanguera Tropeognathus Coloborhynchus Ornithocheirus Ferrodraco Mythunga Topology 2: Holgado & Pêgas (2020).

[15] Siroccopteryx Tropeognathus Mythunga Ferrodraco Aerodraco Coloborhynchus Nicorhynchus Uktenadactylus Caulkicephalus Guidraco Ludodactylus Liaoningopterus Cearadactylus Maaradactylus Anhanguera