Askeptosauridae

Askeptosauridae Temporal range: Triassic
Skeleton of Askeptosaurus italicus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	†Thalattosauria
Superfamily:	†Askeptosauroidea
Family:	†Askeptosauridae Kuhn-Schnyder, 1952
Subgroups
See text.

Askeptosauridae is a family of thalattosaurs within the superfamily Askeptosauroidea. Fossils have been found from Italy, Switzerland, and China. Askeptosaurids are distinguished from other thalattosaurs by their long necks and narrow skulls.^[1]

Classification

Askeptosauridae was named in 1952 to include the genus Askeptosaurus.^[2] In 2000, the genus Anshunsaurus, which includes two species, was added to the family.^[3] In a 2005 phylogenetic analysis, Endennasaurus was included within Askeptosauridae.^[4] Later that year a new study placed Endennasaurus outside Askeptosauridae as a basal member of Askeptosauroidea.^[1] More recent studies have placed the genus Miodentosaurus from China in the family as well. Below is a cladogram modified from Wu et al. (2009) showing the phylogenetic relationships of askeptosaurids:^[5]

Askeptosauroidea	Endennasaurus acutirostris  Askeptosauridae  Anshunsaurus huangguoshuensis Anshunsaurus wushaensis Askeptosaurus italicus Miodentosaurus brevis

References

1. Liu, J.; Rieppel, O. (2005). "Restudy of Anshunsaurus huangguoshuensis (Reptilia: Thalattosauria) from the Middle Triassic of Guizhou, China" (PDF). American Museum Novitates 3488: 1–34. doi:10.1206/0003-0082(2005)488[0001:roahrt]2.0.co;2. ISSN 0003-0082.
2. Kuhn-Schnyder, E. (1952). "Die Triasfauna der Tessiner Kalkalpen. XVII. Askeptosaurus italicus Nopcsa". Schweizerische Paläontologische Abhandlungen 69: 1–52.
3. Rieppel, O.; Liu, J.; Bucher, H. (2000). "The first record of a thalattosaur reptile from the Late Triassic of southern China (Guizhou Province, PR China)". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 20 (3): 507–514. doi:10.1671/0272-4634(2000)020[0507:TFROAT]2.0.CO;2.
4. Müller, J. (2005). "The anatomy of Askeptosaurus italicus from the Middle Triassic of Monte San Giorgio, and the interrelationships of thalattosaurs (Reptilia, Diapsida)". Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 42: 1347–1367. doi:10.1139/E05-03.
5. Wu, X.-C.; Cheng, Y.-N.; Sato, T.; Shan, H.-Y. (2009). "Miodentosaurus brevis Cheng et al., 2007 (Diapsida: Thalattosauria): its postcranial skeleton and phylogenetic relationships" (PDF). Vertebrata PalAsiatica 47 (1): 1–20.