In the early 2000s, Kenneth Jenkins of Ellis, Kansas collected two specimens of Nyctosaurus which were the first to demonstrate conclusively that not only was this species crested, the crest in mature specimens was very large and elaborate.
Although the clade name Pteranodontia usually applies to the clade exclusively formed by pteranodontids and nyctosaurid, it was originally converted by Unwin (2003) to include Pteranodon and Nyctosaurus so under their phylogeny it contains also the Ornithocheirae and other taxa.