Cymbospondylidae is an extinct

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Hueneosauria The Hueneosauria are a group of Ichthyosauria, living during the Mesozoic. In 2000, Michael Werner Maisch and Andreas Matzke defined a node clade Hueneosauria as the group consisting of the last common ancestor of ''Mixosaurus cornalianus'' an ...

Ichthyosaurs Ichthyosaurs (Ancient Greek for "fish lizard" – and ) are large extinct marine reptiles. Ichthyosaurs belong to the order known as Ichthyosauria or Ichthyopterygia ('fish flippers' – a designation introduced by Sir Richard Owen in 1842, alt ...

known from the

Middle Triassic In the geologic timescale, the Middle Triassic is the second of three epochs of the Triassic period or the middle of three series in which the Triassic system is divided in chronostratigraphy. The Middle Triassic spans the time between Ma ...

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

, North America, and

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an ...

Taxonomy

Cymbospondylidae is a

basal Basal or basilar is a term meaning ''base'', ''bottom'', or ''minimum''. Science * Basal (anatomy), an anatomical term of location for features associated with the base of an organism or structure * Basal (medicine), a minimal level that is nec ...

clade of

ichthyosaur Ichthyosaurs (Ancient Greek for "fish lizard" – and ) are large extinct marine reptiles. Ichthyosaurs belong to the order known as Ichthyosauria or Ichthyopterygia ('fish flippers' – a designation introduced by Sir Richard Owen in 1842, altho ...

s. In 2000, Maischand and Matzke recovered cymbospondylids as members of

and more derived than

mixosaurid The Mixosauria were an early group of ichthyosaurs, living between 247.2 and 235 million years ago, during the Triassic period. Fossils of mixosaurs have been found all over the world: China, Timor, Indonesia, Italy, Germany, Spitsbergen, Switzer ...

s, but Ji and colleagues found cymbospondylids to be outside of Hueneosauria in 2015. These two studies defined the group in two different ways, with the former defining it as the least inclusive clade containing both ''

Cymbospondylus petrinus ''Cymbospondylus'' (a Greek word meaning "boat vertebrae") was a basal early ichthyosaur that lived between the early and middle Triassic period (249-237 million years ago). Previously, the genus was classified as a shastasaurid, but more rece ...

'' and ''

Phantomosaurus neubigi ''Phantomosaurus'' is an extinct genus of ichthyosaur that lived during the late Anisian stage of the Middle Triassic. Fossils have been found in southern Germany. It was discovered in 1965 and named in 1997 as a species of '' Shastasaurus'' by S ...

'', whereas the latter defined it as the least inclusive clade containing both ''

Cymbospondylus piscosus ''Cymbospondylus'' (a Greek word meaning "boat vertebrae") was a basal early ichthyosaur that lived between the early and middle Triassic period (249-237 million years ago). Previously, the genus was classified as a shastasaurid, but more recen ...

'' and '' Xinminosaurus catactes''.

References

Middle Triassic ichthyosaurs Late Triassic ichthyosaurs Prehistoric reptile families {{Ichthyosaur-stub