It's never a good fit when one is forced to say things like: "Pterosaurs appear suddenly in the fossil record."
For years I've been trying to get you to address the fact that different taxa have different preservation potentials at different times in different places.
You just keep making the assumption that all preservation potentials are equal and constant.
Have you looked into the origin of lissamphibians lately? That of squamates? That of lepidosaurs?
[...] you should look very carefully at the ornithodires and try to see if you can find an elongated fifth toe. If you can't find one among them, and you won't, it's time to look to other taxa. Also look for digit IV longer than III. That's the primitive condition in pterosaurs.
You're assuming that neither reversals nor convergence between suchians and dinosauromorphs happened. PAUP* doesn't.
<<But what we really need are basal pterosauromorphs. >> What if you never find them? Good luck in your search.
Let's wait till Atanassov publishes...