Parvipelvia

Parvipelvia Temporal range: Late Triassic–Late Cretaceous, 210–93.5 Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N
Ichthyosaurus breviceps fossil
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	†Ichthyosauria
Clade:	†Euichthyosauria
Node:	†Parvipelvia Motani, 1999
Subgroups
See text.

Parvipelvia (Latin for "little pelvis" - parvus meaning "little" and pelvis meaning "pelvis") is an extinct clade of euichthyosaur ichthyosaurs from the Late Triassic to the early Late Cretaceous (middle Norian - Cenomanian) of Asia, Australia, Europe, North America and South America. Named by Ryosuke Motani, in 1999, it contains the basal taxa like Macgowania and Hudsonelpidia.^[1] Maisch and Matzke (2000) found in their analysis seven synapomorphies that support Parvipelvia. They also found 10 synapomorphies that support the existence of post-Triassic clade of ichthyosaurs (all parvipelvians excluding Macgowania and Hudsonelpidia), for which the name Neoichthyosauria was found to be available.^[2]

Phylogeny

Parvipelvia is a node-based taxon defined in 1999 as "the last common ancestor of Hudsonelpidia, Macgowania, Ichthyosaurus and all of its descendants".^[1] Maisch and Matzke (2000) also defined Neoichthyosauria which is a node-based taxon originally named by P. Martin Sander in 2000, as "the last common ancestor of Temnodontosaurus trigonodon and Ophthalmosaurus icenicus and all of its descendants".^[2] The cladograms below follows Motani (1999) and Maisch and Matzke (2000).^[1][2]

References