Geosaurinae

Geosaurinae Temporal range: Bajocian–Valanginian PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N
Dakosaurus maximus skull, Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Superorder:	Crocodylomorpha
Suborder:	†Thalattosuchia
Family:	†Metriorhynchidae
Subfamily:	†Geosaurinae Lydekker, 1889
Genera
Neptunidraco Purranisaurus Suchodus Tyrannoneustes Geosaurini Aggiosaurus Dakosaurus Geosaurus Plesiosuchus Torvoneustes

Geosaurinae is a subfamily of metriorhynchid crocodyliforms from the Middle Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous (Bajocian - Valanginian) of Europe, North America and South America.^[1][2] Named by Richard Lydekker, in 1889, it contains the metriorhynchids Suchodus, Purranisaurus, Neptunidraco, Tyrannoneustes, Torvoneustes, Dakosaurus, Geosaurus and Plesiosuchus. The last four taxa form a tribe within Geosaurinae, the Geosaurini. Geosaurinae is one of two subfamilies of Metriorhynchidae, the other being Metriorhynchinae.^[3]

Phylogeny

Life reconstructions showing the maximum body lengths for the four Geosaurini genera present in the late Kimmeridgian-early Tithonian of Western Europe

Geosaurinae is a stem-based taxon defined in 2009 as the most inclusive clade consisting of Geosaurus giganteus, but not Metriorhynchus geoffroyii.^[1] Geosaurini was named by Lydekker in 1889, and it is a node-based taxon defined by Andrea Cau and Federico Fanti in 2011 as the least inclusive clade consisting of Geosaurus giganteus, Dakosaurus maximus and Torvoneustes carpenteri. The cladogram below follows the topology from a 2011 analysis by Young et al.^[4]

Geosaurinae	Suchodus brachyrhynchus Suchodus durobrivensis Geosaurinae indet. (="Metriorhynchus" aff. "M." brachyrhynchus) Purranisaurus casamiquelai Purranisaurus potens Purranisaurus westermanni Neptunidraco ammoniticus  Geosaurini  Torvoneustes carpenteri Geosaurus lapparenti Geosaurus giganteus Geosaurus grandis Dakosaurus manselii Dakosaurus sp. (Mexico) Dakosaurus andiniensis Dakosaurus maximus

References

1. Mark T. Young and Marco Brandalise de Andrade (2009). "What is Geosaurus? Redescription of Geosaurus giganteus (Thalattosuchia: Metriorhynchidae) from the Upper Jurassic of Bayern, Germany". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 157 (3): 551–585. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2009.00536.x.
2. Mark T. Young, Stephen L. Brusatte, Marcello Ruta and Marco Brandalise de Andrade (2010). "The evolution of Metriorhynchoidea (Mesoeucrocodylia, Thalattosuchia): an integrated approach using geometrics morphometrics, analysis of disparity and biomechanics". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 158 (4): 801–859. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2009.00571.x.
3. Andrea Cau; Federico Fanti (2011). "The oldest known metriorhynchid crocodylian from the Middle Jurassic of North-eastern Italy: Neptunidraco ammoniticus gen. et sp. nov.". Gondwana Research. 19 (2): 550–565. doi:10.1016/j.gr.2010.07.007.
4. Mark T. Young, Mark A. Bell, Marco Brandalise de Andrade and Stephen L. Brusatte (2011). "Body size estimation and evolution in metriorhynchid crocodylomorphs: implications for species diversification and niche partitioning". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 163 (4): 1199–1216. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2011.00734.x.