Metriorhynchoidea

Metriorhynchoidea is an extinct superfamily of thalattosuchian crocodyliforms from the Early Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous (Toarcian^[2] - Valanginian, possibly as late as early Aptian^[3]) of Europe, North America and South America. Metriorhynchids are fully aquatic crocodyliforms.^[4][5] Named by Fitzinger, in 1843, it contains the basal taxa like Teleidosaurus, Zoneait and Eoneustes and the family Metriorhynchidae. An unnamed taxon is known from Chile.^[6]

Metriorhynchoids Temporal range: Early Jurassic-Early Cretaceous, Toarcian–Aptian PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Restoration of Teleidosaurus calvadosii
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Clade:	Archosauria
Clade:	Pseudosuchia
Clade:	Crocodylomorpha
Clade:	Crocodyliformes
Suborder:	†Thalattosuchia
Parvorder:	†Neothalattosuchia
Superfamily:	†Metriorhynchoidea Fitzinger, 1843
Subgroups
†Eoneustes †Magyarosuchus †Opisuchus †Pelagosaurus? †Teleidosaurus Euthalattosuchia[1] †Zoneait †Metriorhynchidae

Phylogeny

Metriorhynchoidea is a stem-based taxon defined in the PhyloCode by Mark T. Young and colleagues in 2024 as "the largest clade within Thalattosuchia containing Metriorhynchus brevirostris, but not Teleosaurus cadomensis and Macrospondylus bollensis".^[1] The more derived clade Euthalattosuchia was named by Young and colleagues in 2024 to contain those thalattosuchians with both cranial and postcranial adaptations to a fully marine lifestye. It is defined in the PhyloCode as the "smallest clade within Metriorhynchoidea containing Zoneait nargorum and Thalattosuchus superciliosus.^[1] The cladogram below follows the topology from a 2011 analysis by Andrea Cau and Federico Fanti.^[4] Note that the same topology was obtained in Mark T. Young and Marco Brandalise de Andrade, 2009 and Mark T. Young, Stephen L. Brusatte, Marcello Ruta and Marco Brandalise de Andrade, 2010.^[5][6]

Metriorhynchoidea	Teleidosaurus calvadosii Eoneustes bathonicus Eoneustes gaudryi Metriorhynchoidea indet. Zoneait  Metriorhynchidae  Geosaurinae Metriorhynchinae

References

1. Young, Mark T.; Wilberg, Eric W.; Johnson, Michela M.; Herrera, Yanina; De Andrade, Marco Brandalise; Brignon, Arnaud; Sachs, Sven; Abel, Pascal; Foffa, Davide; Fernández, Marta S.; Vignaud, Patrick; Cowgill, Thomas; Brusatte, Stephen L. (2024). "The history, systematics, and nomenclature of Thalattosuchia (Archosauria: Crocodylomorpha)". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zlad165.
2. Attila Ősi; Mark T. Young; András Galácz; Márton Rabi (2018). "A new large-bodied thalattosuchian crocodyliform from the Lower Jurassic (Toarcian) of Hungary, with further evidence of the mosaic acquisition of marine adaptations in Metriorhynchoidea". PeerJ. 6: e4668. doi:10.7717/peerj.4668. PMC 5949208. PMID 29761038.
3. Alfio A. Chiarenza; Davide Foffa; Mark T. Young; Gianni Insacco; Andrea Cau; Giorgio Carnevale; Rita Catanzariti (2015). "The youngest record of metriorhynchid crocodylomorphs, with implications for the extinction of Thalattosuchia". Cretaceous Research. 56: 608–616. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2015.07.001. hdl:2318/1537833.
4. Andrea Cau; Federico Fanti (2011). "The oldest known metriorhynchid crocodylian from the Middle Jurassic of North-eastern Italy: Neptunidraco ammoniticus gen. et sp. nov". Gondwana Research. 19 (2): 550–565. Bibcode:2011GondR..19..550C. doi:10.1016/j.gr.2010.07.007.
5. Mark T. Young; Stephen L. Brusatte; Marcello Ruta; Marco Brandalise de Andrade (2010). "The evolution of Metriorhynchoidea (Mesoeucrocodylia, Thalattosuchia): an integrated approach using geometrics morphometrics, analysis of disparity and biomechanics". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 158 (4): 801–859. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2009.00571.x.
6. Mark T. Young & Marco Brandalise de Andrade (2009). "What is Geosaurus? Redescription of Geosaurus giganteus (Thalattosuchia: Metriorhynchidae) from the Upper Jurassic of Bayern, Germany". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 157 (3): 551–585. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2009.00536.x.