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Microcleidus
Taxonomy
Microcleidus was named by Watson (1909) [Sepkoski's age data: J Toar-l Sepkoski's reference number: 1066].
It was assigned to Cryptoclididae by White (1940); to Elasmosauridae by Persson (1963) and Carpenter (1999); to Euplesiosauria by O'Keefe (2001); to Plesiosauria by Watson (1909) and Sepkoski (2002); to Plesiosauridae by Ketchum and Benson (2010); to Plesiosauroidea by Brown et al. (2013); and to Microcleididae by Benson et al. (2012), Benson and Druckenmiller (2014) and Vincent et al. (2019).
It was assigned to Cryptoclididae by White (1940); to Elasmosauridae by Persson (1963) and Carpenter (1999); to Euplesiosauria by O'Keefe (2001); to Plesiosauria by Watson (1909) and Sepkoski (2002); to Plesiosauridae by Ketchum and Benson (2010); to Plesiosauroidea by Brown et al. (2013); and to Microcleididae by Benson et al. (2012), Benson and Druckenmiller (2014) and Vincent et al. (2019).
Synonyms
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Synonymy list
| Year | Name and author |
|---|---|
| 1909 | Microcleidus Watson |
| 1940 | Microcleidus White p. 461 |
| 1963 | Microcleidus Persson pp. 19-20 |
| 1999 | Occitanosaurus Bardet et al. |
| 1999 | Microcleidus Carpenter p. 168 fig. 15 |
| 2001 | Microcleidus O'Keefe p. 19 fig. 20 |
| 2002 | Microcleidus Sepkoski |
| 2010 | Microcleidus Ketchum and Benson p. 15 |
| 2010 | Occitanosaurus Ketchum and Benson p. 15 |
| 2012 | Microcleidus Benson et al. fig. 4 |
| 2012 | Occitanosaurus Otero et al. |
| 2013 | Microcleidus Brown et al. |
| 2014 | Microcleidus Benson and Druckenmiller figs. 2-3 |
| 2019 | Microcleidus Vincent et al. |
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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. †Microcleidus Watson 1909
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†Microcleidus brachypterygius Huene 1923
†Microcleidus homalospondylus Owen 1865
†Microcleidus macropterus Seeley 1865
†Microcleidus melusinae Vincent et al. 2019
†Microcleidus tournemirensis Sciau et al. 1990
Invalid names: Occitanosaurus Bardet et al. 1999 [synonym]
Diagnosis
| Reference | Diagnosis | |
|---|---|---|
| D. M. S. Watson 1909 | The main characters are (1) elongation of the centra of the cervicals; (2) the narrowness of the cervicals across the zygapophyses, and the fore and aft direction of the latter; (3) the constricted centra of the dorsal region; (4)the great height of the neural spines of the dorsals; (5) the lowness of the centra of the three sacral vertebrae and the great strength of their zygapophyses; (6) the fact that the caudals retain a long rib tihtly fused on down to the end of the tail, showing that there can only have been a very small fin, if any. | |
| R. B. J. Benson et al. 2012 | Microcleidid plesiosauroids with (selected unambiguous synapomorphies): jugal excluded from orbit margin by maxilla-postorbital contact (character 32.1 in the Phylogenetic analysis; below); jugal short, terminates around posterior orbital margin (33.1); cervical centra longer anteroposteriorly than high dorsoventrally (116.1); longitudinal ridge on lateral surface of cervical centrum (118.1); anteroposterior constriction at base of dorsal neural spines (142.1; also present in Hauffiosaurus and some rhomaleosaurids); anterior process of coracoid long and transversely narrow (165.1; also present in cryptoclidids and leptocleidians) |