Reptilia - Plesiosauria - Pliosauridae
Parent taxon: Pliosauroidea according to Z. Gasparini and J. P. O'Gorman 2014
See also Andrews 1913, Araujo et al. 2008, Bardet et al. 1991, Benson and Druckenmiller 2014, Benson et al. 2012, Benson et al. 2013, Brown 1981, Carroll 1988, Cau and Fanti 2014, Cruickshank 1994, Cruickshank 1994, Cruickshank 1996, Cruickshank 1997, Delair 1960, Gasparini 1997, Gasparini and Spalletti 1993, Gomez-Perez and Noe 2011, Ketchum and Benson 2010, Ketchum and Benson 2011, Kuhn 1946, Kuhn 1966, O'Gorman 2016, O'Keefe 2001, O’Gorman et al. 2018, Páramo-Fonseca et al. 2018, Páramo-Fonseca et al. 2023, Persson 1963, Schumacher and Everhart 2005, Tarlo 1960, Welles 1943, Welles 1962, White 1940, Wiffen and Moisley 1986, Williston 1903, Williston 1903 and Zverkov and Pervushov 2020
Sister taxon: Trinacromeridae
Subtaxa: Acostasaurus Anguanax Arminisaurus Attenborosaurus Cryonectes Hauffiosaurus Marmornectes Pachycostasaurus Pliosaurus aequalis Pliosaurus evansi Polyptchodon Simolestinae Sinopliosaurus Stenorhynchosaurus Strongylokrotaphus Thalassiodracon Thalassophonea
Type: Makhaira
Ecology: nektonic carnivore
Distribution:
• Cretaceous of Argentina (1 collection), Australia (5), Canada (3: British Columbia, Saskatchewan), Chile (1), China (1), Colombia (6), the Czech Republic (1), France (2), Italy (1), Mexico (1), Poland (2), the Russian Federation (5), the United Kingdom (4), United States (12: Colorado, Kansas, South Dakota, Texas, Utah)
• Jurassic to Cretaceous of the United Kingdom (1)
• Jurassic of Argentina (4), China (3), Cuba (1), France (12), Germany (4), India (2), Italy (1), Kazakhstan (1), Mexico (6), Norway (2), Poland (1), the Russian Federation (3), the United Kingdom (71)
• Triassic to Jurassic of the United Kingdom (3)
Total: 160 collections including 188 occurrences