Pistosauroidea

Pistosauroidea is a group of marine reptiles within the superorder Sauropterygia that first appeared in the latter part of the Early Triassic and were the ancestors of plesiosaurs. Pistosauroids are rare in Triassic marine assemblages, and are represented by only a few fossils from central Europe, the United States, and China.[1] Recent phylogenetic analyses consider the Triassic pistosauroids to be a paraphyletic grouping, meaning that they do not form a true clade. Plesiosauria is now placed within Pistosauroidea, while the traditional pistosauroids are successively more basal, or primitive, sauropterygians.[2]

Pistosauroidea Temporal range: Early Triassic - Late Cretaceous
Life restoration of Augustasaurus hagdorni
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Superorder:	†Sauropterygia
Clade:	†Eosauropterygia
Clade:	†Pistosauroidea Baur, 1887-90
Subgroups
†Chinchenia †Corosauridae †Cymatosauridae †Kwangsisaurus †Wangosaurus †Pistosauria †Pistosauridae †Bobosaurus †Yunguisaurus †Augustasaurus †Plesiosauria

Below is a cladogram of pistosauroid relationships from Cheng et al. (2006):[1]

Below is a cladogram of pistosauroid relationships from Ketchum & Benson, 2011:[3]