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Plioplatecarpinae

Reptilia - Mosasauridae

Taxonomy
Plioplatecarpidae was named by Dollo (1884). It was considered monophyletic by Cuthbertson et al. (2007).

It was synonymized subjectively with Mosasauridae by Kuhn (1966); it was misspelled as Plioplatecarinae by Polcyn and Everhart (2008); it was reranked as the subfamily Plioplatecarpinae by Russell (1967), Thurmond (1969), Russell (1970), Welles and Gregg (1971), Thurmond and Jones (1981), Wright and Shannon (1988), Wiffen (1990), Páramo (1994), Holmes (1996), Lingham-Soliar (1996), Páramo-Fonseca (2000), Bardet et al. (2005), Polcyn and Bell (2005), Martin and Crame (2006), Cuthbertson et al. (2007), Fernández et al. (2008), Konishi et al. (2010), Konishi and Caldwell (2011), Konishi et al. (2012), Bell et al. (2013), Cuthbertson and Holmes (2015), Hornung et al. (2018), Driscoll et al. (2019), Strong et al. (2020), Kiernan and Ebersole (2023), Plasse et al. (2024) and Rivera-Sylva et al. (2024).

It was assigned to Pythonomorpha by Zittel (1890); to Mosasauria by Kuhn (1946); to Natantia by Bardet et al. (2005); to Russellosaurina by Polcyn and Bell (2005), Cuthbertson et al. (2007), Konishi et al. (2010), Konishi and Caldwell (2011), Konishi et al. (2012), Cuthbertson and Holmes (2015), Kiernan and Ebersole (2023) and Plasse et al. (2024); and to Mosasauridae by Russell (1967), Thurmond (1969), Russell (1970), Welles and Gregg (1971), Thurmond and Jones (1981), Wright and Shannon (1988), Wiffen (1990), Páramo (1994), Holmes (1996), Lingham-Soliar (1996), Páramo-Fonseca (2000), Martin and Crame (2006), Fernández et al. (2008), Polcyn and Everhart (2008), Bell et al. (2013), Hornung et al. (2018), Driscoll et al. (2019), Strong et al. (2020) and Rivera-Sylva et al. (2024).

Synonyms
Synonymy list
YearName and author
1884Plioplatecarpidae Dollo
1890Plioplatecarpidae Zittel p. 619
1896Platecarpus somenensis Thevenin
1946Plioplatecarpidae Kuhn p. 61
1952Platecarpus ptychodon Arambourg
1967Plioplatecarpinae Russell p. 148
1967Platecarpus somenensis Russell p. 155
1969Plioplatecarpinae Thurmond p. 72
1969Platecarpus somenensis Thurmond p. 75
1970Plioplatecarpinae Russell p. 373
1971Plioplatecarpinae Welles and Gregg p. 52
1981Plioplatecarpinae Thurmond and Jones p. 158
1981Platecarpus somenensis Thurmond and Jones p. 160
1988Plioplatecarpinae Wright and Shannon p. 102
1990Plioplatecarpinae Wiffen p. 79
1994Plioplatecarpinae Páramo p. 65
1996Plioplatecarpinae Holmes p. 674
1996Plioplatecarpinae Lingham-Soliar
2000Plioplatecarpinae Páramo-Fonseca p. 123
2005Plioplatecarpinae Bardet et al.
2005Plioplatecarpinae Polcyn and Bell p. 323
2006Plioplatecarpinae Martin and Crame p. 113
2007Plioplatecarpinae Cuthbertson et al.
2008Plioplatecarpinae Fernández et al. p. 183
2008Plioplatecarinae Polcyn and Everhart p. 14
2010Plioplatecarpinae Konishi et al.
2011Plioplatecarpinae Konishi and Caldwell
2012Plioplatecarpinae Konishi et al.
2013Plioplatecarpinae Bell Jr. et al. p. 578
2015Plioplatecarpinae Cuthbertson and Holmes
2018Plioplatecarpinae Hornung et al. p. 551
2019Platecarpus ptychodon Driscoll et al.
2019Plioplatecarpinae Driscoll et al.
2020Plioplatecarpinae Strong et al. p. 8
2023Plioplatecarpinae Kiernan and Ebersole p. 4
2024Plioplatecarpinae Plasse et al. p. 4
2024Plioplatecarpinae Rivera-Sylva et al. p. 4

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RankNameAuthor
kingdomAnimalia()
—Bilateria
—EubilateriaAx 1987
—Deuterostomia
phylumChordataHaeckel 1874
subphylumVertebrata
superclassGnathostomata
—Osteichthyes()
subclassSarcopterygii()
subclassDipnotetrapodomorpha(Nelson 2006)
subclassTetrapodomorpha()
—Tetrapoda
RankNameAuthor
—Reptiliomorpha
—Anthracosauria
subclassAmphibiosauriaKuhn 1967
—Cotylosauria()
—Amniota
—Sauropsida
classReptilia
—Squamata()
familyMosasauridae
—Russellosaurina(Bell 1997)
subfamilyPlioplatecarpinae(Dollo 1884)
subfamilyPlioplatecarpinae(Dollo 1884)

If no rank is listed, the taxon is considered an unranked clade in modern classifications. Ranks may be repeated or presented in the wrong order because authors working on different parts of the classification may disagree about how to rank taxa.

Subfm. †Plioplatecarpinae Dollo 1884
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G. †Angolasaurus Antunes 1964
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†Angolasaurus bocagei Antunes 1964
G. †Ectenosaurus Russell 1967
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†Ectenosaurus clidastoides Merriam 1894
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Invalid names: Platecarpus oxyrhinus Merriam 1894 [synonym]
†Ectenosaurus shannoni Kiernan and Ebersole 2023
†Ectenosaurus tlemonectes Kiernan and Ebersole 2023
Unr. †Plioplatecarpini Russell 1967
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G. †Latoplatecarpus Konishi and Caldwell 2011
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†Latoplatecarpus nichollsae Cuthbertson et al. 2007
†Latoplatecarpus willistoni Konishi and Caldwell 2011
G. †Platecarpus Cope 1869
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Invalid names: Holcodus coryphaeus Cope 1871 [synonym], Lestosaurus felix Marsh 1872 [synonym], Lestosaurus gracilis Marsh 1872 [synonym], Lestosaurus latifrons Marsh 1872 [synonym], Lestosaurus simus Marsh 1872 [synonym], Liodon ictericus Cope 1870 [synonym], Liodon mudgei Cope 1870 [synonym]
Invalid names: Holcodus Gibbes 1851 [synonym], Holosaurus Marsh 1880 [synonym], Lestosaurus Marsh 1872 [synonym], Platecarpus affinis Leidy 1873 [nomen dubium], Platecarpus anguliferus Cope 1874 [nomen vanum], Platecarpus brachycephalus Loomis 1915 [nomen dubium], Platecarpus glandiferus Cope 1871 [nomen dubium], Platecarpus latispinus Cope 1871 [nomen dubium], Platecarpus tectulus Cope 1871 [nomen dubium], Sironectes Cope 1874 [synonym]
G. †Plesioplatecarpus Konishi and Caldwell 2011
G. †Plioplatecarpus Dollo 1882
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†Plioplatecarpus marshi Dollo 1882
†Plioplatecarpus peckensis Cuthbertson and Holmes 2015
†Plioplatecarpus primaevus Russell 1967
Invalid names: Oterognathus Dollo 1889 [synonym]
G. †Sarabosaurus Polcyn et al. 2023
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†Sarabosaurus dahli Polcyn et al. 2023
Unr. †Selmasaurini Longrich et al. 2024
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G. †Gavialimimus Strong et al. 2020
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†Gavialimimus almaghribensis Strong et al. 2020
G. †Goronyosaurus Azzaroli et al. 1972
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†Goronyosaurus nigeriensis Swinton 1930
G. †Khinjaria Longrich et al. 2024
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†Khinjaria acuta Longrich et al. 2024
G. †Selmasaurus Wright and Shannon 1988
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†Selmasaurus johnsoni Polcyn and Everhart 2008
†Selmasaurus russelli Wright and Shannon 1988
G. †Yaguarasaurus Páramo 1994
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†Yaguarasaurus columbianus Páramo 1994
†Yaguarasaurus regiomontanus Rivera-Sylva et al. 2024
Invalid names: Platecarpus ptychodon Arambourg 1952 [nomen dubium], Platecarpus somenensis Thevenin 1896 [nomen dubium]
Diagnosis
ReferenceDiagnosis
C. R. Kiernan and J. A. Ebersole 2023Russellosaurines generally of medium size, mandible length rarely reaching 100 cm; quadrate ala laterally expanded with uniformly curved border, thin in the center; distinct alar concavity present immediately dorsal to mandibular condyle; surprastapedial process elongate, at least reaching mid-height of quadrate; process often ending with blunt terminus; canal(s) for basilar artery through basisphenoid
and basioccipital exiting as large opening(s) on medullary floor; jaws slender; a large foramina on lateroventral/ventral face of retroarticular process; marginal tooth crowns slender, distally tapering and posteromedially recurved from mid-height; middle and posterior tooth crowns typically bicarinate, two carinae aligned in anteroposterior orientation and dividing crown surface semi-equally; marginal tooth crown medially finely striated, laterally faceted or fluted to various extent; tooth crown with sub-circular basal cross-section; intermediate and terminal caudal centra horizontally short, centrum length not exceeding centrum height more than 1.5 times.