Araripedactylus was a large genus of pterodactyloid pterosaur, known from a single wing bone found in the Early Cretaceous-age Santana Formation of Brazil. The genus was in 1977 named by Peter Wellnhofer who, unaware that the name Araripesaurus had been published by Price in 1971, presumed he was naming the first pterosaur genus from Brazil. The genus name refers to the Araripe Plateau and combines this with daktylos, Greek for "finger", a common element in pterosaur names since Pterodactylus. The type species is Araripedactylus dehmi; the specific name honours the German paleontologist Richard Dehm, a professor at the Munich institute that acquired the only known specimen in 1975.