Nothosauridae

Nothosauridae Temporal range: Triassic
Nothosaurus raabi fossil
Conservation status
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

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]

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" (PDF). 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. doi:10.1111/jeb.12268.
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)". 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 and 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.