Kingdom Animalia Class Reptilia Rank Subfamily | Phylum Chordata Suborder †Thalattosuchia | |
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Similar Torvoneustes, Metriorhynchidae, Purranisaurus, Plesiosuchus, Gracilineustes | ||
Geosaurinae is a subfamily of metriorhynchid crocodyliforms from the Middle Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous (Bajocian - Valanginian) of Europe, North America and South America. Named by Richard Lydekker, in 1889, it contains the metriorhynchids Suchodus, Purranisaurus, Neptunidraco, Tyrannoneustes, Torvoneustes, Dakosaurus, Geosaurus and Plesiosuchus. The last four taxa form a tribe within Geosaurinae, the Geosaurini. Geosaurinae is one of two subfamilies of Metriorhynchidae, the other being Metriorhynchinae.
Phylogeny
Geosaurinae is a stem-based taxon defined in 2009 as the most inclusive clade consisting of Geosaurus giganteus, but not Metriorhynchus geoffroyii. Geosaurini was named by Lydekker in 1889, and it is a node-based taxon defined by Andrea Cau and Federico Fanti in 2011 as the least inclusive clade consisting of Geosaurus giganteus, Dakosaurus maximus and Torvoneustes carpenteri. The cladogram below follows the topology from a 2011 analysis by Young et al.