Taxon Index: A-C

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1. Acanthodiformes X: a long-lived group of very Osteichthyan-like acanthodians
2. Acanthodii X: the other teleostomes, sister of Osteichthyes, with the skull based on large cartilaginous plates and with many fin spines
3. Acanthomorpha: a big fish clade, including tunas, basses, flounders, cods, and billfishes among many others.
4. Acanthostega X: the most basal well-known tetrapod
5. Achoania X:  the sister of crown group Sarcopterygii?
6. Acipenseriformes: sturgeons, paddlefish & extinct relatives
7. Acrocanthosaurus X: an Albian-Aptian theropod -- and contender for largest land predator of all time
8. Acrochordoidea: wart snakes or file snakes
9. Acrodonta: acrodont lizards, i.e. agamids, chamaeleons and that lot.
10. Actinistia: the coelacanth group, odd lobe-finned fish with poorly known relationships
11. Actinolepida X: a cosmopolitan placoderm group closely related to the phylolepidids
12. Actinolepidoidei X: actinolepids + phylolepidids
13. Actinopteri: all actinopterygians (ray-finned fish) except the very primitive Cladistia
14. Actinopterygii: the ray-finned fish
15. Adapiformes X: the extinct (Paleocene to Miocene) sister group of the lorises and lemurs
16. Adelogyrinidae X: another strange and poorly-known Carboniferous lepospondyl group with a long trunk, but with limb girdles, orbits very far forward.
17. Aegyptosaurus X: an Early Cretaceous African sauropod just basal to the Titanosauria
18. Aepyornithiformes X: the elephant birds of Pleistocene Madagascar
19. Aerosaurus X: a Permo-Carboniferous varanodont "pelycosaur," more robust than most in the family
20. Aetosauridae X: also known as Stagnolepidae -- armored suchian vegetarians of the Triassic
21. Aetosaurus X: a smallish aetosaur with square armor plates
22. Agamidae: Old World iguanas; a diverse group of evil-looking lizards with names like Draco and Moloch
23. Aigialosauridae X: late Mesozoic aquatic reptiles from Europe, sister group of the mosasaurs
24. Aïstopoda X: snake-like Permo-Carboniferous lepospondyls
25. Alamosaurus X: a Late Cretaceous titanosaurid immigrant to North America
26. Albertosaurus X: a Late Cretaceous, more northerly cousin of Tyrannosaurus
27. Alectrosaurus X: an Asian relative of Tyrannosaurus
28. Allenypterus X:a weird Bear Gulch actinistian
29. Alethinophidia: all snakes except the "blind snakes"
30. Alligatoridae: alligators, caimans, and a few others
31. Allosauridae X: Allosaurus and Acrocanthosaurus -- Late Mesozoic carnosaurs
32. Allosauroidea X: all the carnosaurs except some early odd-balls
33. Allotheria X: haramyids and multituberculates. This clade may or may not exist.
34. Altirhinus X: Cretaceous hadrosauroid, sister of the Hadrosauridae.
35. Altungulata: horses > cows
36. Alvarezsauridae X: Late Cretaceous flightless birds with very wide distribution -- and very peculiar arms.
37. Alvarezsaurus X: a large and poorly known basal Alvarezsaurid from South America
38. Alxasaurus X: a primitive therizinosaur from the Albian of China
39. Ambulocetidae X: "walking whales" -- early amphibious cetaceans from the Middle Eocene
40. Ameridelphia: South American marsupials
41. Amiidae: probably Amiopsis + Amia -- the Late Mesozoic, Tethys-based branch of the Amiiformes
42. Amiiformes: probably the original (Triassic) worldwide radiation of medium-sized freshwater neopterygians
43. Amiinae: the bowfin, Amia and its closest relatives
44. Amiopsis X: a Late Mesozoic European member of the Amiidae -- perhaps a staple of Archaeopteryx
45. Amniota: fully land-adapted tetrapods
46. Ampelosaurus X: a primitive, but very late, armored titanosaur, from the Maastrichtian of Europe
47. Amphiaspidida X: really strange, highly armored, jawless fishes from the Devonian of Russia
48. Amphiaspidoidei X: the most extreme of the amphiaspids
49. Amphibolurinae: Australian agamid lizards
50. Amphilestes X: a Middle Jurassic triconodont mammal with interlocking molars
51. Amphisbaena: secretive legless lizards
52. Anagalida: rabbits, rodents and elephant shrews
53. Anagalidae X: poorly known and rarely studied rabbit/rodent cousins from the Paleogene
54. Anagaloidea X: more of the same
55. Anapsida: one of the four great amniote clades, this group includes pareiasaurs, turtles, and bolosaurs
56. Anarosaurus X: a small Middle Triassic pachypleurosaur with disproportionately long hind legs
57. Anaspida X: odd, very basal and early jawless fishes without shields (hence the name) and with numerous gill openings in a slanting line
58. Anatalavis X: Cretaceous to Eocene goose/duck, sister of the magpie goose of Australia.
59. Anatidae: the crown group of living ducks, geese & swans
60. Anatinae: ducks
61. Anatini: dabbling ducks
62. Anatoidea: ducks, swans, most geese & close relatives
63. Anatolepis X: very early jawless fish from the Ordovician of North America
64. Anchisaurus X: a rather basal prosauropod from the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic of North America and perhaps elsewhere
65. Andesaurus X: big, relatively basal titanosaur from South America
66. Angistorhinus X: a Carnian phytosaur with a tall skull and down-turned rostrum
67. Anguimorpha: the clade uniting anguimorph and varanoid lizards
68. Anguoidea: Xenosaurus, anguid lizards, shinisaurs, etc.
69. Angusaurus X: a long-snouted trematosaurid temnospondyl from the Early Triassic of Russia.
70. Anhimidae: screamers
71. Aniliidae: the false coral snake of South America
72. Aniloidea: an almost extinct snake group, sister of the macrostomates
73. Ankylosauria X: ankylosaurs and nodosaurs
74. Ankylosauridae X: Ankylosaurus > Nodosaurus
75. Ankylosauromorpha X: probably Ankylosaurus > Stegosaurus
76. Anchipteraspididae X: small pteraspidid Siluro-Devonian jawless fishes which resemble cyathaspidiforms in having a single, fused branchio- cornual plate
77. Anomalepididae: a small family of larger, South American scolecophidians ("blind snakes")
78. Anomochilidae: Anomochilus, a very strange and derived aniloid snake
79. Anomodontia X: dicynodonts and other toothless Permo-Triassic therapsids
80. AnoplosuchusX: an early (Permian) and basal dicynodont therapsid
81. Anoplotheroidea X: an early Neogene ungulate group, convergent on camels
82. Anotophysi: milkfishes and other freshwater teleosts without Weberian ossicles
83. Anseranas: the magpie goose of Australia & New Guinea
84. Anseres: ducks, geese & swans
85. Anseriformes: ducks > chickens. Of extant birds, ducks, geese, swans, & screamers.
86. Anserinae: geese & swans
87. Anteosauria X: the first really succesful therapsids, from the later Permian of Africa, Asia & China
88. Anteosauridae X: rather dog-like carniverous Permian therapsids
89. Anteosaurinae X: large, Late Permian anteosaurs with oddly short legs.
90. Anteosaurus X: well-known standard bearer of the family Anteosauridae
91. Anthracosauroidea X: embolomeres, gephyrostegids and a few other Late Paleozoic tetrapod odds and ends
92. Anthracotheroidea X: Eocene artiodactyl group of uncertain composition, probably close to hippos.
93. Anthropoidea: Texans > tarsiers, including apes, monkeys and people
94. Antiarcha X: one of the two big placoderm clades, this is the Bothriolepis, bug-like group
95. Anura: crown group frogs
96. Apalolepididae X: a scale family of Early Devonian theolodontid thelodonts
97. Apatosaurinae X: Apatosaurus, the former Brontosaurus.
98. Apodiformes: hummingbirds and swifts
99. Apternodontidae X: Eocene to Oligocene proto-shrews from North America.
100. Apterygiformes: kiwis
101. Archaeornithes X: Archaeopteryx
102. Araeoscelidans X: Permo-Carboniferous lizard-like critters who form one of the anchors for the crown group Diapsida.
103. Aragosaurus X: a primitive macronarian sauropod, from the Early Cretaceous of Europe
104. Arandaspida X:a very early (Ordovician) line of pteraspidomorph fishes
105. Archaeonectrus X: : a basal pliosauroid from the Early Jurassic of Europe
106. ArchaeosyodonX: a basal ?anteosaurian dinocephalian from the Middle Permian of Russia with a deep and massive skull
107. Archaeothyris X: a Late Carboniferous "pelycosaur" from Canada, the oldest synapsid known from reasonably good remains.
108. Archegosauroidea X: big, rather slim and croc-like temnospondyls from the Permian
109. Archonta: a big, important, but still uncertain clade including primates, tree shrews and bats.
110. Archosauria: rocs + crocs, a big crown group also including dinosaurs and (probably) pterosaurs
111. Archosauriformes: an arbitrary rest stop between Archosauromorpha and Archosauria, defined as Proterosuchus + birds.
112. Archosauromorpha: drakes > snakes. One of the two complementary reptile clades making up the Sauria.
113. Arctostylopida X: the most primitive paraxonic (cows > horses) ungulates, mostly from the Paleocene of Laurasia
114. Argentinasaurus X: perhaps the largest land animal ever, and perhaps the most frequently misspelled dinosaur, a huge sauropod from the Early Cretaceous of you-know-where
115. Argentiniformes: herring, smelt, etc.
116. Arthrodira X: placoderms with a movable joint between the head and body, including the famous Dunkleosteus.
117. Artiodactyla: cows > whales, perhaps, or sows + cows.
118. Ascidiacea: Classic urochordates with "tadpole" larvae and sessile adult.
119. Asioryctitheria X: Epitherians, but no one knows what sort....
120. Asterolepidoidei X: some late and deviant antiarch placoderms with simplified pectoral limbs/fins and very long armor
121. Astraspidae X: Ordovician fishes with tessellated armor and large, mushroom-shaped dentine tubercles
122. Ateleaspis X: our favorite osteostracan, which has always reminded us of an "Ironclad" from the American Civil War.
123. Atlasaurus X: an early brachiosaur from the Middle Jurassic of Africa
124. Atractaspididae: very basal colubrid snakes
125. Attenborosaurus X: an early plesiosaur
126. Ausktribosphenidae X: An extinct group of Cretaceous Australian tribosphenic mammals which are, or have a striking dental similarity to, placental mammals.
127. Australidelphia: the Australian radiation of marsupials
128. Australosphenida: Gondwanan mammaliaforms with convergently derived tribosphenic molars.
129. Autoceta: crown group cetaceans (whales and dolphins)
130. Aves: Archaeopteryx + living birds
131. Avetheropoda: Allosaurus + birds
132. Aythyini: diving or bay ducks, scaups, and pochards
133. Azemiopinae: The poorly known Fea's Viper of Tibet
134. Azhdarchoidea X: Quetzalcoatlus and related pterosaurs

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135. Balognathidae X: a group of prionodontidan conodonts
136. Bandringidae X: small ctenacanthiform sharks with hugely elongated rostra from the Late Carboniferous of North America
137. Baphetes X: a well-known baphetid (proto-temnospondyl) from the Late Carboniferous of Europe and North America
138. Baphetidae X: a strange group of Late Carboniferous amphibians with "keyhole" orbits
139. Barapasaurus X: an early, perhaps the earliest, really big sauropod (14-18 m), sister of the Eusauropoda, from the Early Jurassic of India
140. Barbereniidae X: a probably non-existent group of Late Cretaceous South American symmetrodonts.
141. Barosaurus X: a big, Late Jurassic African diplodocine sauropod.
142. Basilosauridae: in essence all whales in which the pelvis has lost contact with the spine.
143. Basilosaurus X: a big serpentine whale from the Middle Eocene
144. Batomorphii: modern rays and skates
145. Batrachosauria: Seymouria + Jane Seymour -- amniotes and their close relatives
146. Batrachotomus X: the dominant predator of the Lower Keuper
147. Baurusuchidae X: terrestrial crocs who looked like therapsids, from the Late Cretaceous of South America
148. Beipiaosaurus X: a feathered therizinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of China
149. Benneviaspidida X: Early Devonian cornuate osteostracans with particularly elaborate head shields
150. Biarmosuchia X: the most basal therapsids known from well-preserved fossils
151. Biarmosuchidae X:  Biarmosuchus, a biarmosuchian of rather light and open construction
152. Bienotherium X: an Early Jurassic cynodont from China
153. Birgeriidae X: Triassic fish closely related to the sturgeon
154. Bishanopliosaurus X: a poorly known pliosaur from the Early Jurassic of China
155. Bocatherium X: a cynognathian cynodont from the Middle Jurassic of Mexico
156. Boidea: boas and pythons
157. Bolosauridae X: an odd group of lizard-like anapsids from the Late Permian
158. Bolotridon X: an Early Triassic galesaurid cynodont from South Africa
159. Archipelepididae X: a scale taxon of thelodonts, quite similar to Turinia, but earlier and with different ornament and very large scale bases, from the Silurian of Canada.
160. Bothremydidae X: an extinct, mostly Cenozoic, group of mostly Laurasian pleurodire turtles
161. Bothriolepidoidei X: Bothriolepis and closely related antiarch placoderms of the later Devonian
162. Bothriospondylus X: a large European brachiosaurid sauropod of the Late Jurassic
163. Bovoidea: cattle, sheep goats, etc.
164. Brachauchenius X: a Late Cretaceous pliosaur from North America
165. Brachiosauridae X: sister group to the titanosaurs
166. Brachiosaurus X possibly the largest tetrapod ever
167. Brachyopidae X: late, long-lived family of temnospondyls with short, broad flat skulls with large eyes situated far forward
168. Brachyopoidea X: the last temnospondyls
169. Brachypterygius X: Jurassic ichthyosaur distiguished by very broad fore-paddles.
170. Brachysuchus X  a very large Late Triassic phytosaur
171. Bradysaurs X : large primitive pareiasaurs from the Middle Permian of South Africa
172. Brithopodidae X: a minor family of anteosaurs from the Late Permian of Russia, probably synonymous with Anteosauridae
173. Brithopus X: the standard-bearer of the previous family
174. Broomistega X: a rhinesuchid temnospondyl from the Early Triassic of South Africa
175. Bulbulodentata X: a non-South American stem group of the endemic South African ungulates

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176. Cabonnichthys X: an odd Australian tristichopterid (osteolepiform) fish from the Famennian
177. Caenophidia: all derived poisonous snakes and close relatives
178. Caeciliidae: a large group of caecilians, probably paraphyletic
179. Californosaurus X: a medium-large ichthyosaur from the Late Triassic of North America
180. Camarasauridae X: a small family of basal macronarian sauropods
181. Camarasaurus X: a very well known Apatosaur-like sauropod from the Late Jurassic of North America.
182. Camelidae: camels
183. Campylognathoidea X: an early group of pterosaurs, including Eudimorphodon.  
184. Canowindridae X: Late Devoinian Australian osteolepiforms
185. Capitosauria X: large to huge Triassic temnospondyls
186. Capitosauridae X: Late Triassic capitosauroids
187. Caprimulgiformes: nightjars, night hawks, potoos, oilbirds, etc.
188. Captorhinidae X: one of two succesful groups of early (eu)reptiles
189. Carcharhiniformes: typical nasty-looking galeomorph sharks
190. Carcharodontosauridae X: large late Allosaur cousins
191. Caridosuctor X: an actinistian from Bear Gulch
192. Carinatae: Ichthyornis plus living birds.
193. Carnosauria X: Allosaurus and close relatives
194. Caseasauria X: the earliest branch from the synapsid tree
195. Caseidae X: the first herbivorous synapsids
196. Casuariformes: emus and cassowaries
197. Caturoidea X: Jurassic cousins of Amia
198. Cedarosaurus X: Early Cretaceous brachiosaur from North America
199. Centrosaurinae X: Styracosaurus and close relatives
200. Cephalaspidida X: a group of cornuate osteostracans (jawless fish) from the Early Devonian of Europe
201. Cephalaspidomorphi X: a term we've recycled to mean Osteostraci + Galeaspida (big group of jawless fishes)
202. Cephalochordata: amphioxus -- the sister group to Chordata
203. Cerapoda X: hadrosaurs + ceratopsians
204. Ceratopsia X: all Marginocephalia except the pachycephalosaurs
205. Ceratopsinae X: the immediate family of Triceratops
206. Ceratosauria X: coelophysids, abelisaurs and other non-tetanuran theropod dinosaurs
207. Ceresiosaurus X: a nothosaur from the Middle Triassic seas of Europe
208. Cervoidea: deer, elk, moose and similar ruminants
209. Cetacea: dolphins > deer -- the whales, dolphins and their older cousins
210. Cetartiodactyla: deer + dolphins
211. Cetiosauridae X: a rather early, unspecialized sauropod from the Middle & Late Jurassic.
212. Chaliminia X: a very early (Late Triassic) trithelodont
213. Chamaeleonidae: chameleons
214. Champsosauridae X: a long-lived & well-known family of the odd Choristodera, crocodile analogues
215. Charadriiformes: gulls, auks & relatives.
216. Charadriomorphae: most modern shore birds, pigeons and parrots
217. Cheirolepis X: a Devonian fish, about the most basal form we know of with approximately "standard" dermal skull bones
218. Chelidae: Small to medium-sized "snake-neck" aquatic turtles of Australia & South America.
219. Chialingosaurus X: an early Chinese stegosaurid -- more gracile than Stegosaurus
220. Chigutisauridae X: the last temnospondyls (unless frogs are temnospondyls), from as late as the Jurassic
221. Chimaeriformes: probably Myriacanthus + Chimaera, living chimaeras and close relatives
222. Chimaeroidei: the crown group of living chimaeras
223. Chiroptera: bats
224. Chondrichthyes: the shark leg of the eugnathostome crown group, hence sharks > lawyers.
225. Chondrichthyes (Crown): chimaeras + living sharks, the crown group of living chondrichthyans
226. Chondrostei: the sturgeon stem group, caviar > lox.
227. Chordata: everything in Palaeos Vertebrates: urochordates + vertebrates, or tunicates + tuna.
228. Chrysochloroidea: the "golden moles" of southern Africa.
229. Chthomaloporus X: a poorly known Russian (mid to Late Permian) anteosaur
230. Chubutisaurus X: a South American sauropod from the middle Cretaceous, possibly sister to the Titanosauria
231. Chuchinolepidae X: basal antiarch placoderms from the Early Devonian of China
232. Chunkingosaurus X: Late Jurassic Chinese stegosaur
233. Cichlidae: cichlids
234. Ciconiidae: storks
235. Ciconiiformes: storks, herons, egrets, ibis, etc.
236. Ciconiimorphae: most modern shorebirds
237. Cimoliasauridae X: a poorly known family of mostly Cretaceous plesiosaurs
238. Cimoliasaurus X: a plesiosaur from the middle to Late Cretaceous of Australia
239. Cimolodonta X: late-surviving Cretaceous and Paleocene multituberculates with long snouts and a huge, medial incisor
240. Cladistia: an ancient order of actinopterygian fishes with heavy enameled scales, of which only the bichirs and reedfish survive
241. Cladoselachida X: a very successful group of Late Devonian sharks with large pectoral fins, but otherwise rather modern-looking
242. Cladotheria: the clade uniting dryolestoids with therian mammals
243. Claudiosaurus X: a very primitive marine, neodiapsid reptile, from the Late Permian of Madagascar.
244. Clevosaurs X: the sister group of Sphenodon, mostly Jurassic
245. Climatiiformes X: the most basal group of acanthodians, from the Late Silurian to Early Carboniferous.
246. Clupeocephala: the clade uniting the herring - anchovy group with the euteleosts
247. Clupeomorpha: fish in tin cans -- anchovy, herring and sardines.
248. Cnemiornis X: an extinct goose from the Pleistocene & Holocene of New Zealand
249. Coahomasuchus X: Late Triassic aetosaur, sister to Stagnolepis.
250. Cochleosauridae X: primitive temnospondyls from the Late Carboniferous of Eastern Europe
251. Cochliodontidae X: a surprisingly modern-looking group of mostly Permian holocephalians
252. Coelurosauravidae X: very basal Permo-Triassic gliding diapsids of Europe, also known as Weigeltisauridae
253. Coelurosauria: all theropods closer to birds than to Allosaurus.
254. Coelurus X: a poorly-known basal coelurosaur from the Late Jurassic of North America
255. Coliiformes: "mouse birds," good climbers with fluffy feathers
256. Colosteidae X: Carboniferous amphibians, perhaps the sister group to the temnospondyls
257. Colubridae: rat snakes, corn snakes, king snakes, garter snakes, indigo snakes, boomslangs, etc.
258. Colubroidea: advanced, venomous snakes
259. Columbiformes: doves, pigeons (e.g. Columba), Raphus (dodo), sand grouse.
260. Colymbosaurus X: latest and largest of the Plesiosauroidea known from Jurassic England
261. Compsognathidae X: small, light-bodies predators of the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous.
262. Concordia: X a small, basal captorhinid from the Pennsylvanian of Kansas
263. Confuciusornithidae X: Primitive birds with extraordinarily long wing feathers and long caudal display plumage
264. Conodonta X: very, very early jaws and teeth of poorly understood design and relationships.
265. Cornuata X: a large & long-lived group of osteostracan fishes with pointed lateral processes (cornua) of the head shield
266. Corosaurus X: perhaps the most basal known sauropterygian, from the Triassic of North America
267. Corvaspididae X: Late Silurian & Early Devonian jawless fishes -- possibly stem cyathaspids
268. Corvaspis X: the best known corvaspid
269. Corveolepis X: a genus carved out of Corvaspis material
270. Cotylosauria: diadectomorphs + crown group amniotes
271. Cracidae: the colorful curassows, guans, and chachalacids
272. Craniata: hags + hagfish
273. Crassigyrinus X: an odd and evil-looking basal tetrapod (or near-tetrapod) with diminutive arms
274. Crocidurinae: southern shrews
275. Crocodylia: living crocs > dryosaurs
276. Crocodylidae: crocodiles > alligators
277. Crocodyliformes: crocodiles > Sphenosuchia
278. Crocodylinae: the 12 living species of true crocodiles
279. Crocodylomorpha: roughly speaking, the level at which crocs stopped trying to compete with dinosaurs
280. Crotalinae: pit vipers
281. Crurotarsi: crocs > dinosaurs
282. Cryolophosaurus X: an Early Jurassic carnosaur from Antarctica (= "Elvisaurus")
283. Cryptocleidoidea X: late Mesozoic short-necked plesiosaurs
284. Cryptocleididae X: Cryptocleidus and immediate family 
285. Cryptocleidus X: an early (Jurassic), successful member of the short-neck plesiosaur tribe.
286. Cryptodira: today, the predominant turtle breed except in some Gondwanan lands
287. Ctenacanthidae X: the dominant elasmobranch sharks of the Permian and Carboniferous
288. Ctenacanthiformes: all elasmobranch sharks except the xenacanthids
289. Ctenaspis X: a very peculiar-looking heterosracan jawless fish from the Early Devonian, probably the sister of all other amphiaspids
290. Ctenochasmatoidea X: pterodactyloids with shallow keels and plantigrade feet, from the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous
291. Ctenosquamata: most Cenozoic teleosts
292. Cuculidae: all cuculiforms except the roadrunner
293. Cuculiformes: cuckoos, the roadrunner, and possibly a few others
294. Cyathaspidida X: streamlined heterostracans with fusiform or cigar-shaped head-shields made up of two main components, dorsal and ventral epitega
295. Cyathaspidiformes X: the amphiaspid-cyathaspid leg of crown group Heterostraci, Siluro-Devonian jawless fishes with big, unitary armors
296. Cyclosquamata: deep sea teleosts with non-protrusible, toothed maxillae
297. Cylindrophiidae: pipe snakes
298. Cymbospondylus X: the most primitive of the Ichthyosauria
299. Cynodontia: cynodonts
300. Cynognathia X: Cynognathus > Sinocodon,  by our reckoning, the eucynodont branch that didn't lead to mammals
301. Cynognathidae X: a paraphyletic cluster of basal cynognaths
302. Cynosaurus X: a rather obscure Permian cynodont which is, despite the name, a galesaurid.
303. Cypriniformes: carp, minnows, loaches and others

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