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Nothosaurs
Nothosaurs (superfamily Nothosauroidea) were Triassic marine sauropterygian reptiles. They averaged about in length, with a long body and tail. The feet were paddle-like, and are known to have been webbed in life, to help power the animal when swimming. The neck was quite long, and the head was elongated and flattened, and relatively small in relation to the body. The margins of the long jaws were equipped with numerous sharp outward-pointing teeth, indicating a diet of fish and squid. Taxonomy The Nothosauroidea has been suggested to consist of two suborders, the Pachypleurosauria, which are small primitive forms, and the Nothosauria (including two families Nothosauridae and Simosauridae), which may have evolved from pachypleurosaurs. The relation of pachypleurosaurs to Nothosauroidea is uncertain, as several analyses recover the clade as basal (phylogenetics), basal to Eusauropterygia, e.i. the clade formed by Nothosauria and Pistosauroidea, instead as the sister taxon of Noth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nothosauridae
Nothosauridae are an extinct family (biology), family of carnivore, carnivorous aquatic sauropterygian reptiles from the Triassic time period of China, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, Russia, Switzerland, and northern Africa. Phylogeny The cladogram shown below follows Rieppel (1998)'s phylogenetic analysis of nothosaurids (bold terminal taxa contain living species). Most of these relations are still considered correct today, but despite Rieppel (1998)'s referral of ''Ceresiosaurus'' and ''Silvestrosaurus'' to ''Lariosaurus'', some authors still consider them separate and many additional species have been named since this analysis. A species level phylogenetic analysis of Nothosauridae was performed by Liu ''et al.'' (2014), and included all known valid species of the family apart from ''Lariosaurus stensioi'' (type of ''Micronothosaurus''), ''Nothosaurus cymatosauroides'', and ''Ceresiosaurus lanzi''. The resultant topology is similar to the one obtained in Riep ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |