Nothosauridae

Nothosauridae are an extinct family of carnivorous aquatic sauropterygian reptiles from the Triassic time period of China, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, Russia, Switzerland, and northern Africa.[2][3]

Nothosauridae Temporal range: Triassic
Nothosaurus mirabilis fossil
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Superorder:	†Sauropterygia
Order:	†Nothosauroidea
Suborder:	†Nothosauria
Family:	†Nothosauridae Seeley, 1889
Genera[1]
†Germanosaurus †Metanothosaurus[2] (nomen dubium) †Proneusticosaurus[2] (nomen dubium) †Lariosaurinae †Ceresiosaurus †Lariosaurus †Silvestrosaurus †Nothosaurinae †Nothosaurus (type)

An impression of Ceresiosaurus eating a small aquatic animal

Phylogeny

The cladogram shown below follows Rieppel (1998)'s phylogenetic analysis of nothosaurids (bold terminal taxa contain living species).[1] Most of these relations are still considered correct today,[4] 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.[5]

Archosauromorpha      Prolacertiformes     Choristodera         Rhynchosauria     Trilophosaurus       Archosauriformes        Lepidosauromorpha    Kuehneosauridae     Lepidosauria         Testudines       Placodontia      Pistosauroidea    Corosaurus       Cymatosaurus     Pistosaurus        Nothosauroidea   Pachypleurosauria    Dactylosaurus     Neusticosaurus-Serpianosaurus      Nothosauria    Simosaurus    Nothosauridae    Germanosaurus       Nothosaurus         Lariosaurus balsami (type species of Lariosaurus)     Lariosaurus curionii         Ceresiosaurus       Silvestrosaurus     Lariosaurus valceresii

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 Rieppel (1998) if the new additions are ignored, however this analysis found both Lariosaurus and Nothosaurus to be polyphyletic in regard to each-other and all other genera of the family, making a systematic revision of these two genera necessary. Below, their results are shown with type species of named nothosaurid genera noted.[6]

Pachypleurosauria    Nothosauria    Simosaurus gaillardoti    Nothosauridae    Germanosaurus latissimus (type of Germanosaurus)     Nothosaurus zhangi     Nothosaurus haasi     Nothosaurus edingerae         Nothosaurus jagisteus       Nothosaurus mirabilis (type of Nothosaurus)     Nothosaurus tchemovi             Nothosaurus marchicus     Nothosaurus yangiuanensis         Nothosaurus giganteus       Nothosaurus juvenilis       Lariosaurus hongguoensis         Lariosaurus buzzii (type of Silvestrosaurus)     Nothosaurus winkelhorsti           Lariosaurus xingyiensis     Nothosaurus youngi           Lariosaurus calcagnii (type of Ceresiosaurus)     Lariosaurus valceresii         Lariosaurus balsami (type of Lariosaurus)     Lariosaurus curionii

See also

• Nothosauria
• Pachypleurosaur

References

1. Olivier Rieppel (1998). "The status of the sauropterygian reptile genera Ceresiosaurus, Lariosaurus, and Silvestrosaurus from the Middle Triassic of Europe". Fieldiana: Geology. New Series. 38: 1–46.
2. The Paleobiology Database: Nothosauridae
3. Nothosauridae
4. Lee, M. S. Y. (2013). "Turtle origins: Insights from phylogenetic retrofitting and molecular scaffolds". Journal of Evolutionary Biology. 26 (12): 2729–2738. doi:10.1111/jeb.12268. PMID 24256520.
5. Jasmina Hugi (October 2011). "The long bone histology of Ceresiosaurus (Sauropterygia, Reptilia) in comparison to other eosauropterygians from the Middle Triassic of Monte San Giorgio (Switzerland/Italy)" (PDF). Swiss Journal of Palaeontology. 130 (2): 297–306. doi:10.1007/s13358-011-0023-6.
6. Jun Liu; Shi-xue Hu; Olivier Rieppel; Da-yong Jiang; Michael J. Benton; Neil P. Kelley; Jonathan C. Aitchison; Chang-yong Zhou; Wen Wen; Jin-yuan Huang; Tao Xie; Tao Lv (2014). "A gigantic nothosaur (Reptilia: Sauropterygia) from the Middle Triassic of SW China and its implication for the Triassic biotic recovery". Scientific Reports. 4: Article number 7142. doi:10.1038/srep07142. PMC 4245812. PMID 25429609.