| Microcleidids Temporal range: Early Jurassic,
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| Microcleidus homalospondylus skeleton (NHMUK PV OR 36184) | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Superorder: | †Sauropterygia |
| Order: | †Plesiosauria |
| Superfamily: | †Plesiosauroidea |
| Family: | †Microcleididae Benson, Evans & Druckenmiller, 2012 |
| Genera | |
Microcleididae is an extinct family of basal plesiosauroid plesiosaurs from the Early Jurassic (middle Sinemurian to late Toarcian stages) of France, Germany, Portugal and the United Kingdom. Currently, the oldest and the most known microcleidid is Eretmosaurus from the middle Sinemurian of the United Kingdom. Microcleididae was formally named and described by Roger B. J. Benson, Mark Evans and Patrick S. Druckenmiller in 2012.[1][2]
- ^ Roger B. J. Benson; Mark Evans; Patrick S. Druckenmiller (2012). "High Diversity, Low Disparity and Small Body Size in Plesiosaurs (Reptilia, Sauropterygia) from the Triassic–Jurassic Boundary". PLOS ONE. 7 (3): e31838. Bibcode:2012PLoSO...731838B. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0031838. PMC 3306369. PMID 22438869.
- ^ Adam S. Smith; Ricardo Araújo; Octávio Mateus (2011). "Lusonectes sauvagei, a new plesiosauroid from the Toarcian (Lower Jurassic) of Alhadas, Portugal" (PDF). Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. in press. doi:10.4202/app.2011.0023. S2CID 55764533.