Cryptoclidia

Cryptoclidia Temporal range: Middle Jurassic-Late Cretaceous, 165–66 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Skeleton of Thililua longicollis, National Museum of Nature and Science
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Superorder:	†Sauropterygia
Order:	†Plesiosauria
Superfamily:	†Plesiosauroidea
Clade:	†Cryptoclidia Ketchum and Benson, 2010
Subgroups
†Cryptoclididae †Xenopsaria †Elasmosauridae †Leptocleidia

Cryptoclidia is a clade of plesiosaurs.

Cryptoclidia was named and defined as a node clade in 2010 by Hilary Ketchum and Roger Benson: the group consisting of the last common ancestor of Cryptoclidus eurymerus and Polycotylus latipinnis; and all its descendants.^[1]

The following cladogram follows an analysis by Benson & Druckenmiller (2014).^[2]

Plesiosauroidea	Plesiosaurus Eretmosaurus Westphaliasaurus Microcleididae Plesiopterys Cryptoclidia Cryptoclididae Xenopsaria Elasmosauridae Leptocleidia Leptocleididae Polycotylidae

References

1. Ketchum, H.F.; Benson, R.B.J. (2010). "Global interrelationships of Plesiosauria (Reptilia, Sauropterygia) and the pivotal role of taxon sampling in determining the outcome of phylogenetic analyses". Biological Reviews. 85 (2): 361–392. doi:10.1111/j.1469-185X.2009.00107.x. PMID 20002391. S2CID 12193439.
2. Benson, R. B. J.; Druckenmiller, P. S. (2013). "Faunal turnover of marine tetrapods during the Jurassic-Cretaceous transition". Biological Reviews. 89 (1): 1–23. doi:10.1111/brv.12038. PMID 23581455. S2CID 19710180.