Kingdom Animalia Class Reptilia Family †Metriorhynchidae | Phylum Chordata Suborder †Thalattosuchia | |
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Subfamily †Metriorhynchinae
Fitzinger, 1843 | ||
Metriorhynchinae is a subfamily of metriorhynchid crocodyliforms from the late Middle Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous (Callovian - Valanginian) of Europe, North America and South America. Named by Fitzinger, in 1843, it contains the metriorhynchids Metriorhynchus, Gracilineustes, Cricosaurus and Rhacheosaurus. The last two taxa form a tribe within Metriorhynchinae, the Rhacheosaurini. Metriorhynchinae is one of two subfamilies of Metriorhynchidae, the other being Geosaurinae.
Phylogeny
Metriorhynchinae is a stem-based taxon defined in 2009 as the most inclusive clade consisting of Metriorhynchus geoffroyii, but not Geosaurus giganteus. Rhacheosaurini is a stem-based taxon and it was named and defined by Mark T. Young, Mark A. Bell and Stephen L. Brusatte in 2011 as the most inclusive clade including Rhacheosaurus gracilis, but not Metriorhynchus geoffroyii and Gracilineustes leedsi. The cladogram below follows the topology from a 2010 analysis by Mark T. Young, Stephen L. Brusatte, Marcello Ruta and Marco Brandalise de Andrade with clade names from Young et al. 2011.