Thalattosauridae

Taxobox
name = Thalattosauridae
fossil_range = Late Triassic

---

image_width = 250px
image_caption = "Thalattosaurus" and "Nectosaurus"
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Sauropsida
subclassis = ?Diapsida
ordo = Thalattosauria
familia = Thalattosauridae
familia_authority = Merriam 1904
subdivision_ranks = Genera
subdivision =
*"Thalattosaurus"
*"Nectosaurus"

Thalattosauridae (From Ancient Greek, meaning "Ocean lizards") is a family of extinct marine diapsid reptiles which lived along the Pacific coast of Late Triassic North America. Specimens of two genera, "Thalattosaurus" and "Nectosaurus", have been found in California.

In life, the typical thalattosaur would have resembled a large lizard up to 7 feet in length, half of which being the elongated, flattened tail. Despite resembling lizards, the thalattosaurs' relationships with other diapsids is obscure, with most experts pigeonholing them somewhere between ichthyosaurs and archosaurs. Their closest relative is "Askeptosaurus", which was also a marine diapsid from the Triassic.

There are several recognized genera of thalattosaurs. The larger"Thalattosaurus" (which contains two species, "T. alexandrae" and "T. shastensis") fed on shellfish, and the smaller "Nectosaurus halinus" ate fish. In 1993, Nicholls and Brinkman described "Paralonectes merriami" and "Agkistrognathus campbelli" from fossils found at Wapiti Lake, British Columbia, extending the known range of the family to what is now Canada.

References

[http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0022-3360(199303)67%3A2%3C263%3ANT(DFT%3E2.0.CO%3B2-6. Abstract of the paper describing "Paralonectes" and "Agkistrognathus"]