Propterodactylus (meaning "before Pterodactylus") is an extinct genus of transitional monofenestratan pterosaurs from the Late Jurassic Painten Formation of Germany.

The lack of fusion in several skeletal elements, such as the synsacrum, scapulocoracoid, carpals, and ischiopubic plate, indicate that the animal was not fully grown.

[3][1] Based on the mosaic of features observed in the Propterodactylus holotype, it can be confidently regarded as transitional between the more basal monofenestratans such as darwinopterans and the later diverging lophocratian pterodactyloids.

The results of Andres (2021) are displayed in the cladogram below, with Propterodactylus as the sister taxon to the Lophocratia within Pterodactyloidea, diverging after the fragmentary Kryptodrakon.

[5] Similarly, Dalla Vecchia (2022) found Propterodactylus to be the basalmost pterodactyloid in an analysis with a smaller sample size, with the Darwinoptera as the sister taxon to Changchengopterus + Pterodactyloidea within the Monofenestrata.

Pterodactylus Ctenochasmatoidea Haopterus Pteranodontoidea Azhdarchoidea Some older studies, such as Vidovic & Martill (2018), discussed the Propterodactylus fossil material as belonging to a non-pterodactyloid immediately basal to the clade's divergence.