Ichthyosauridae
| Ichthyosauridae Temporal range: latest Triassic-Early Jurassic,
Possible Early Cretaceous ghost lineage | |
|---|---|
| Fossil specimen of Ichthyosaurus breviceps | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | †Ichthyosauria |
| Node: | †Thunnosauria |
| Family: | †Ichthyosauridae Bonaparte, 1841 |
| Type species | |
| †Ichthyosaurus communis Conybeare, 1822 | |
| Subgroups | |
| |
Ichthyosauridae is an extinct family of thunnosaur ichthyosaurs from the latest Triassic and Early Jurassic (Rhaetian to Pliensbachian stages) of Europe, and possibly also from the middle Early Cretaceous (Hauterivian or Barremian stage) of Iraq. Named by Charles Lucien Bonaparte, in 1841, it is usually thought to contain a single genus, Ichthyosaurus, which is known from several species from the Early Jurassic. In 2013, Fischer et al. named and described Malawania anachronus from the middle Early Cretaceous of Iraq. It was found to share several synapomorphies with the type species of this family, Ichthyosaurus communis, and a large phylogenetic analysis recovered these species as sister taxa. Despite its geologically younger age, M. anachronus was also assigned to Ichthyosauridae.