Tanystropheidae is an extinct

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

of mostly marine archosauromorph reptiles that lived throughout the

Triassic The Triassic ( ) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.6 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.36 Mya. The Triassic is the first and shortest period ...

Period. They are characterized by their long, stiff necks formed from elongated

cervical vertebrae In tetrapods, cervical vertebrae (singular: vertebra) are the vertebrae of the neck, immediately below the skull. Truncal vertebrae (divided into thoracic and lumbar vertebrae in mammals) lie caudal (toward the tail) of cervical vertebrae. In ...

with very long

cervical rib A cervical rib in humans is an extra rib which arises from the seventh cervical vertebra. Their presence is a congenital abnormality located above the normal first rib. A cervical rib is estimated to occur in 0.2% to 0.5% (1 in 200 to 500) of the ...

s. Some tanystropheids such as '' Tanystropheus'' had necks that were several meters long, longer than the rest of their bodies. Tanystropheids are known from

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

(

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, and

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

and probably

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

(

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

). The presence of tanystropheids in Europe and China indicate that they lived along much of the coastline of the Tethys Ocean. However, species in western North America are found in terrestrial deposits, suggesting that as a group, tanystropheids were ecologically diverse. Relationships among tanystropheid species have been difficult to resolve because most specimens were flattened during fossilization and are preserved two-dimensionally. Three-dimensional fossils are known from Europe and North America.

Phylogeny

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, a phylogenetic study was conducted by S. Spiekman, N. Fraser, and T. Schayer in an attempt to clarify the systematics of "

protorosaur Protorosauria is an extinct polyphyletic group of archosauromorph reptiles from the latest Middle Permian (Capitanian stage) to the end of the Late Triassic ( Rhaetian stage) of Asia, Europe and North America. It was named by the English anato ...

" groups. A total of 16 individual trees were found using different character scoring methods and unstable

OTU Otu or OTU may refer to: * Otu: ** Otu, Iran, a village in Mazandaran Province, Iran ** Otu, Siga, Japan ** Otú Airport, an airport in the village of Otú and serving the town of Remedios, Colombia * OTU: ** Ontario Tech University, a postsecond ...

exclusions. The results of analysis 3A, with ratio and ordered characters treated as such and pruning 5 out of 40 OTUs ''a posteriori'' to offer maximum resolution/minimum polytomies, are shown:

List of genera

*'' Amotosaurus'' *'' Augustaburiania'' *'' Cosesaurus'' *''

Elessaurus ''Elessaurus'' is an extinct genus of archosauromorph from the Early Triassic of Brazil. It contains a single species, ''Elessaurus gondwanoccidens''. It possessed a variety of features common to basal archosauromorphs, particularly basal tanys ...

''? *''

Dinocephalosaurus ''Dinocephalosaurus'' (meaning "terrible-headed reptile") is a genus of long necked, aquatic protorosaur that inhabited the Triassic seas of China. The genus contains the type and only known species, ''D. orientalis'', which was named by Li in ...

'' *'' Exilisuchus''? *''

Fuyuansaurus ''Fuyuansaurus'' is an extinct genus of "protorosaur" reptiles (probably part of Tanystropheidae) known from the Middle Triassic (Ladinian stage) Falang Formation of southern China. ''Fuyuansaurus'' was first named by Nicholas C. Fraser, Olivier ...

'' *'' Gwyneddosaurus'' (possible chimera of ''Tanytrachelos'' and a coelacanth; thus ''Gwyneddosaurus'' is a possible senior synonym of ''Tanytrachelos'') *''

Langobardisaurus ''Langobardisaurus'' (, meaning Reptile of Langobardi, in reference to the Long Bearded People, an ancient Italian civilization) is an extinct genus of tanystropheid archosauromorph reptile, with one known species, ''L. pandolfii''. Its fossils ...

'' *''

Macrocnemus ''Macrocnemus'' is an extinct genus of archosauromorph reptile known from the Middle Triassic (Late Anisian to Ladinian) of Europe and China. ''Macrocnemus'' is a member of the Tanystropheidae family and includes three species''. Macrocnemus bass ...

'' *''

Ozimek Ozimek (german: Malapane; szl, Uoźimek) is a town in Opole County, Opole Voivodeship, Poland, with 8,657 inhabitants (2019). History Ozimek dates back to an early modern period, early modern settlement. It was named both ''Ozimek'' and ''Ma ...

''? *'' Pectodens'' *''

Protanystropheus ''Protanystropheus'' is an extinct genus of archosauromorph from the Middle Triassic (Anisian stage) of Poland, Germany, Austria and the Netherlands. It was named by Sennikov in 2011 and the type species is ''Protanystropheus antiquus'', first de ...

'' *'' Raibliania'' *''

Sclerostropheus ''Sclerostropheus'' is an extinct genus of tanystropheid archosauromorph from the Late Triassic of Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in ...

'' *''

Sharovipteryx ''Sharovipteryx'' ("Sharov's wing", known until 1981 as ''Podopteryx'', "foot wing"), is a genus of early gliding reptiles containing the single species ''Sharovipteryx mirabilis''. It is known from a single fossil and is the only glider with a m ...

''? *'' Tanystropheus'' *''

Tanytrachelos ''Tanytrachelos'' is an extinct genus of tanystropheid archosauromorph reptile from the Late Triassic of the eastern United States. It contains a single species, ''Tanytrachelos ahynis'', which is known from several hundred fossil specimens pres ...

References

Tanystropheids Prehistoric reptile families Triassic reptiles Triassic first appearances Triassic extinctions Taxa named by Paul Gervais {{triassic-reptile-stub