Cymbospondylidae

Cymbospondylidae Temporal range: Early Triassic to Late Triassic, 251–210 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Cymbospondylus buchseri fossil at the Palaeontological Museum of the University of Zurich
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	†Ichthyosauria
Node:	†Hueneosauria
Suborder:	†Longipinnati
Family:	†Cymbospondylidae Huene, 1948
Genera
†Cymbospondylus †Pachygonosaurus? †Pessopteryx?[1] †Phantomosaurus? †Thalattoarchon?[2] †Xinminosaurus?

Cymbospondylidae is an extinct family of hueneosaurian Ichthyosaurs known from the Middle Triassic of Europe, North America, and Asia.^[3][4]

Taxonomy

Cymbospondylidae is a basal clade of ichthyosaurs. In 2000, Maischand and Matzke recovered cymbospondylids as members of Hueneosauria and more derived than mixosaurids,^[3] but Ji and colleagues found cymbospondylids to be outside of Hueneosauria in 2015.^[4] These two studies defined the group in two different ways, with the former defining it as the least inclusive clade containing both Cymbospondylus petrinus and Phantomosaurus neubigi, whereas the latter defined it as the least inclusive clade containing both Cymbospondylus piscosus and Xinminosaurus catactes.^[3][4]

References

1. Sander, P. M.; Griebeler, E. M.; Klein, N.; Juarbe, J. V.; Wintrich, T.; Revell, L. J.; Schmit, L. (2021). "Early giant reveals faster evolution of large body size in ichthyosaurs than in cetaceans" (PDF). Science. 374: eabf5787.
2. Bindellini, G.; Wolniewicz, A.S.; Miedema, F.; Scheyer, T.M.; Dal Sasso, C. (2021). "Cranial anatomy of Besanosaurus leptorhynchus Dal Sasso & Pinna, 1996 (Reptilia: Ichthyosauria) from the Middle Triassic Besano Formation of Monte San Giorgio, Italy/Switzerland: taxonomic and palaeobiological implications". PeerJ. 9: e11179. doi:10.7717/peerj.11179. PMC 8106916. PMID 33996277.
3. Michael W. Maisch & Andreas T. Matzke (2000). "The Ichthyosauria". Stuttgarter Beiträge zur Naturkunde. Serie B. 298: 1–159.
4. Ji, Cheng; Jiang, Da-Yong; Motani, Ryosuke; Rieppel, Olivier; Hao, Wei-Cheng; Sun, Zuo-Yu (2015). "Phylogeny of the Ichthyopterygia incorporating recent discoveries from South China". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 36 (1): e1025956. doi:10.1080/02724634.2015.1025956. S2CID 85621052.