Placodontiformes

Placodontiformes is an extinct clade of sauropterygian marine reptiles that includes placodonts and the non-placodont Palatodonta. It was erected in 2013 with the description of Palatodonta. Placodontiformes is the most basal clade of Sauropterygia and the sister group of Eosauropterygia, which includes all other sauropterygians.[1]

Placodontiformes Temporal range: Middle - Late Triassic
Skeleton of the placodontian placodontiform Henodus chelyops
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Superorder:	†Sauropterygia
Clade:	†Placodontiformes Neenan et al., 2013
Subgroups
†Palatodonta †Placodontia

Phylogeny

Below is a cladogram from Neenan et al. (2013) showing the position of Placodontiformes within Sauropterygia:[1]

Sauropterygia	Placodontiformes   Palatodonta   Placodontia   Paraplacodus       Placodus   Cyamodontoidea   Cyamodus     Psephoderma           Eosauropterygia   Pistosauroidea   Yunguisaurus       Plesiosauria       Pistosaurus     Augustasaurus                 Corosaurus     Cymatosaurus         Nothosauroidea       Diandongosaurus     Pachypleurosauria

References

1. Neenan, J. M.; Klein, N.; Scheyer, T. M. (2013). "European origin of placodont marine reptiles and the evolution of crushing dentition in Placodontia". Nature Communications. 4: 1621. doi:10.1038/ncomms2633. PMID 23535642.