PBDB Taxon

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Morphology	Ecology and taphonomy	External Literature Search	Age range and collections

Simosaurus

Reptilia - Nothosauria - Simosauridae

Taxonomy

Simosaurus was named by Meyer (1842) [Sepkoski's age data: Tr Ladi-l Tr Ladi-u Sepkoski's reference number: 1044].

It was assigned to Nexipodes by Meyer (1845); to Ichthyosauridae by d'Orbigny (1849); to Sauropterygia by Owen (1859) and Owen (1860); to Sauropterygia by Owen (1861); to Simosaurinae by Nopsca (1928), Huene (1948), Young (1965) and Carroll (1988); to Eusauropterygia by Rieppel (1994), Rieppel (1994) and Rieppel (1996); to Simosauridae by Kuhn (1966), Kuhn (1971) and Rieppel (2000); and to Notosauria by Sepkoski (2002).

Species

S. gaillardoti (syn. S. guilielmi, Ichthyosaurus lunevillensis)

Synonymy list

Year	Name and author
1842	Simosaurus Meyer
1845	Simosaurus Meyer p. 281
1849	Simosaurus d'Orbigny p. 211
1859	Simosaurus Owen p. 144
1860	Simosaurus Owen p. 214
1861	Simosaurus Owen p. 234
1928	Simosaurus Nopsca p. 43
1948	Simosaurus Huene p. 43
1965	Simosaurus Young p. 354
1966	Simosaurus Kuhn p. 112
1971	Simosaurus Kuhn p. 19
1988	Simosaurus Carroll
1994	Simosaurus Rieppel p. 4
1996	Simosaurus Rieppel p. 568
2000	Simosaurus Rieppel
2002	Simosaurus Sepkoski

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Rank	Name	Author
kingdom	Animalia	()
—	Bilateria
—	Eubilateria	Ax 1987
—	Deuterostomia
phylum	Chordata	Haeckel 1874
subphylum	Vertebrata
superclass	Gnathostomata
—	Osteichthyes	()
subclass	Sarcopterygii	()
subclass	Dipnotetrapodomorpha	(Nelson 2006)
subclass	Tetrapodomorpha	()
—	Tetrapoda
—	Reptiliomorpha

Rank	Name	Author
—	Anthracosauria
subclass	Amphibiosauria	Kuhn 1967
—	Cotylosauria	()
—	Amniota
—	Sauropsida
class	Reptilia
subclass	Eureptilia	()
—	Romeriida
—	Diapsida	()
suborder	Sauropterygia
order	Nothosauria	Baur 1889
family	Simosauridae	()
genus	Simosaurus	Meyer 1842

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.

G. †Simosaurus Meyer 1842

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†Simosaurus gaillardoti Meyer and Plieninger 1842

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Invalid names: Ichthyosaurus lunevillensis Alberti 1837 [synonym], Simosaurus guilielmi Meyer 1847 [objective synonym]

Diagnosis

Reference	Diagnosis
O. Rieppel 1996	"A large (3-4 meters total length) eusauropterygian with a brevirostrine skull, fully diagnosed in Rieppel (1994). Among stem-group Sauropterygia, the vertebrae of Simosaurus are unique by combining high neural spines with high transverse processes that extend downwards to the base of the neural arch pedicels, and by centrally located pre- and postzygapophyses as well as infrapre- and infrapostzygapophyses. The dorsal ribs are characterized by a slender dorsal shoulder region and an expanded and flattened distal end."