Rhacheosaurus [SEP] parent taxon
Rhacheosaurus
Rhacheosaurus is an extinct genus of marine crocodyliform belonging to the family Metriorhynchidae. The genus was established by Christian von Meyer in 1831 for skeletal remains from the Tithonian (Late Jurassic) of Germany.
History and classification.
A phylogenetic analysis in 2009 showed that several long-snouted species formerly classified in the related genera "Geosaurus", "Enaliosuchus", and "Metriorhynchus" were in fact more closely related to the original specimens of "Cricosaurus", and thus were re-classified into this genus.
taxon defined in 2009 as the most inclusive clade consisting of "Metriorhynchus geoffroyii", but not "Geosaurus giganteus". Rhacheosaurini is a stem-based taxon and it was named and defined by Mark T. Young, Mark A. Bell and Stephen L. Brusatte in 2011 as the most inclusive clade including "Rhacheosaurus gracilis", but not "Metriorhynchus geoffroyii" and "Gracilineustes leedsi". The cladogram below follows the topology from a 2010 analysis by Mark T. Young, Stephen L. Brusatte, Marcello Ruta and Marco Brandalise de Andrade with