Mixosauridae Baur, 1887

Roberts, Aubrey Jane, Engelschiøn, Victoria Sjøholt & Hurum, Jørn Harald, 2022, First three-dimensional skull of the Middle Triassic mixosaurid ichthyosaur Phalarodon fraasi from Svalbard, Norway, Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 67 (1), pp. 51-62 : 54

Family Mixosauridae Baur, 1887

Type genus: Mixosaurus Baur, 1887 .

Included genera: Mixosaurus Baur, 1887 and Phalarodon Merriam, 1910 .

Diagnosis.—Modified from Liu et al. (2013). Mixosauridae can be differentiated from other ichthyosaurs by the following combination of characters: premaxilla pointed posteriorly and lacking subnarial and supranarial processes; long sagittal crest which reaches the nasal; large anterior terrace of the upper temporal fenestra which reaches the nasal; pubis is significantly larger than the ischium; narrow and high caudal neural spines; large mid-caudal vertebral centra; heterodonty, posterior teeth more robust than anterior teeth; a pronounced notch present between the deltopectoral crest and the humeral head; distal carpal 1 larger than other carpals; three flattened middle metacarpals which are short and only have a slightly constricted shaft.