Merriamosauria is an extinct

clade In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...

ichthyosaur Ichthyosauria is an order of large extinct marine reptiles sometimes referred to as "ichthyosaurs", although the term is also used for wider clades in which the order resides. Ichthyosaurians thrived during much of the Mesozoic era; based on fo ...

s. It was named by Ryosuke Motani in his 1999 analysis of the relationships of ichthyopterygian marine reptiles and was defined in

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics () is the study of the evolutionary history of life using observable characteristics of organisms (or genes), which is known as phylogenetic inference. It infers the relationship among organisms based on empirical dat ...

terms as a

stem-based taxon Phylogenetic nomenclature is a method of nomenclature for taxon, taxa in biology that uses phylogenetics, phylogenetic definitions for taxon names as explained below. This contrasts with Biological classification, the traditional method, by which ...

including "the

last common ancestor A most recent common ancestor (MRCA), also known as a last common ancestor (LCA), is the most recent individual from which all organisms of a set are inferred to have descended. The most recent common ancestor of a higher taxon is generally assu ...

of '' Shastasaurus pacificus'' and ''

Ichthyosaurus communis ''Ichthyosaurus'' (derived from Greek () meaning 'fish' and () meaning 'lizard') is a genus of ichthyosaurs from the Early Jurassic (Hettangian - Pliensbachian) of Europe (Belgium, England, Germany and Portugal). Some specimens of the ichthyo ...

'', and all of its descendants." The name honours John Campbell Merriam. Based on this definition, Merriamosauria includes most ichthyosaurs except for several Triassic groups such as the clade Mixosauria, the family

Cymbospondylidae Cymbospondylidae is an extinct family of hueneosaurian Ichthyosaurs known from the Middle Triassic of Europe, North America, and Asia. Taxonomy Cymbospondylidae is a basal clade of ichthyosaurs. In 2000, Maischand and Matzke recovered cymbospond ...

, and perhaps the family Toretocnemidae. Merriamosaurs are characterized by features in their

pectoral girdle The shoulder girdle or pectoral girdle is the set of bones in the appendicular skeleton which connects to the arm on each side. In humans, it consists of the clavicle and scapula; in those species with three bones in the shoulder, it consists o ...

s and limb bones, including an extensive connection between the

scapula The scapula (: scapulae or scapulas), also known as the shoulder blade, is the bone that connects the humerus (upper arm bone) with the clavicle (collar bone). Like their connected bones, the scapulae are paired, with each scapula on either side ...

and the

coracoid A coracoid is a paired bone which is part of the shoulder assembly in all vertebrates except therian mammals (marsupials and placentals). In therian mammals (including humans), a coracoid process is present as part of the scapula, but this is n ...

bone, the absence of the first metacarpal and the absence of a

pisiform bone The pisiform bone ( or ), also spelled pisiforme (from the Latin ''pisiformis'', pea-shaped), is a small knobbly, sesamoid bone that is found in the wrist. It forms the ulnar border of the carpal tunnel. Structure The pisiform is a sesamoid bone ...

. In addition to '' Shastasaurus,'' this clade includes ''

Shonisaurus ''Shonisaurus'' is a genus of very large ichthyosaurs. At least 37 incomplete fossil specimens of the type species, ''Shonisaurus popularis'', have been found in the Luning Formation of Nevada, USA. This formation dates to the late Carnian-earl ...

, Guizhouichthyosaurus,'' an unnamed

Norian The Norian is a division of the Triassic geological period, Period. It has the rank of an age (geology), age (geochronology) or stage (stratigraphy), stage (chronostratigraphy). It lasted from ~227.3 to Mya (unit), million years ago. It was prec ...

taxon from Alaska, and many other genera.

References

Ichthyosauria Middle Triassic ichthyosaurs Late Triassic ichthyosaurs Middle Triassic first appearances Turonian extinctions {{ichthyosaur-stub