page_title: Mixosaurus
section_title: Classification
hierarchical_section_title: Mixosaurus / Classification
caption_attribution_description: Museo civico di storia naturale Milano
context_page_description: Mixosaurus is an extinct genus of Middle Triassic ichthyosaur. Its fossils have been found near the Italy–Switzerland border and in South China.
  The genus was named in 1887 by George H. Baur. The name means "Mixed Lizard", and was chosen because it appears to have been a transitional form between the eel-shaped ichthyosaurs such as Cymbospondylus and the later dolphin-shaped ichthyosaurs, such as Ichthyosaurus. Baur named Mixosaurus as a new genus because its forefin was sufficiently different from that of Ichthyosaurus.
  Mixosaurus includes 3 species. Previously this number was bigger, and Mixosaurus was considered as the most common genus of Triassic ichthyosaurs, whose fossils have been found all over the world, including China, Timor, Indonesia, Italy, Spitsbergen, Svalbard, Canada, as well as Alaska and Nevada in the US.
context_section_description: In recent years the taxonomy and phylogeny of mixosaurid ichthyosaurs has been a controversial topic. Most recently, Mixosauridae has been separated into Mixosaurinae and the sister group Phalarondontinae. Mixosaurus contains M. cornalianus, M. kuhnschnyderi and M. xindianensis, Barracudasauroides contains B. panxianensis, Phalarodon contains P. fraasi and P. callawayi, and Contectopalatus contains C. atavus.
  Mixosaurids are characterised by a relatively short and wide humerus and Phalarodon are characterised by the lack of a dental groove in the upper jaw. Phalarodon fossils are found in every major Mixosaur locality.
  It was suggested that Tholodus schmidi should be included in Mixosauridae but only dental material has been found so it is difficult to assign it to a genus.
  Cladogram based on Motani (1999), Maisch and Matzke (2000), and Jiang, Schmitz, Hao & Sun (2006), with clade and generic names following Maisch (2010):
caption: M. cornalianus in Milan
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