Leptocleidians Temporal range: Cretaceous,
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Life restoration of the leptocleidian Nichollssaura borealis | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Reptilia |
Superorder: | †Sauropterygia |
Order: | †Plesiosauria |
Clade: | †Xenopsaria |
Clade: | †Leptocleidia Ketchum and Benson, 2010 |
Subgroups | |
Leptocleidia is a clade of plesiosauroids.[1] The group was erected in 2007 as Leptocleidoidea.[2] Although established as a clade, the name Leptocleidoidea implies that it is a superfamily. Leptocleidoidea is placed within the superfamily Plesiosauroidea, so it was renamed Leptocleidia by Hilary F. Ketchum and Roger B. J. Benson (2010) to avoid confusion with ranks. Leptocleidia is a node-based taxon which was defined by Ketchum and Benson as "Leptocleidus superstes, Polycotylus latipinnis, their most recent common ancestor and all of its descendants".[1]