Metriorhynchinae is a subfamily of metriorhynchid crocodyliforms from the late Middle Jurassic

Middle Jurassic

The Middle Jurassic is the second epoch of the Jurassic Period. It lasted from 176-161 million years ago. In European lithostratigraphy, rocks of this Middle Jurassic age are called the Dogger....

 to the Early Cretaceous

Early Cretaceous

The Early Cretaceous or the Lower Cretaceous , is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous...

 (Callovian

Callovian

In the geologic timescale, the Callovian is an age or stage in the Middle Jurassic, lasting between 164.7 ± 4.0 Ma and 161.2 ± 4.0 Ma. It is the last stage of the Middle Jurassic, following the Bathonian and preceding the Oxfordian....

 - Valanginian

Valanginian

In the geologic timescale, the Valanginian is an age or stage of the Early or Lower Cretaceous. It spans between 140.2 ± 3.0 Ma and 136.4 ± 2.0 Ma...

) of Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

 and South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

. Named by Fitzinger

Leopold Fitzinger

Leopold Joseph Franz Johann Fitzinger was an Austrian zoologist.Fitzinger was born in Vienna and studied botany at the university of Vienna under Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin...

, in 1843, it contains the metriorhynchids Metriorhynchus

Metriorhynchus

Metriorhynchus is an extinct genus of marine crocodyliform that lived in the oceans during the Middle to Late Jurassic. Metriorhynchus was named by the German palaeontologist Christian von Meyer in 1830. Metriorhynchus was a carnivore that spent much, if not all, its life out at sea...

, Gracilineustes

Gracilineustes

Gracilineustes is an extinct genus of marine crocodyliform that lived in the oceans during the Middle to Late Jurassic. Gracilineustes was a carnivore that spent much, if not all, its life out at sea.-Discovery and species:...

, Cricosaurus

Cricosaurus

Cricosaurus is an extinct genus of marine crocodyliform belonging to the family Metriorhynchidae. The genus was established by Johann Andreas Wagner in 1858 for three skulls from the Tithonian of Germany...

and Rhacheosaurus

Rhacheosaurus

Rhacheosaurus is an extinct genus of marine crocodyliform belonging to the family Metriorhynchidae. The genus was established by von Meyer in 1831 for skeletal remains from the Tithonian of Germany.-History and classification:...

. The last two taxa form a tribe within Metriorhynchinae, the Rhacheosaurini. Metriorhynchinae is one of two subfamilies of Metriorhynchidae, the other being Geosaurinae

Geosaurinae

Geosaurinae is a subfamily of metriorhynchid crocodyliforms from the Middle Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous of Europe, North America and South America. Named by Richard Lydekker, in 1889, it contains the metriorhynchids Suchodus, Purranisaurus, Neptunidraco, Torvoneustes, Dakosaurus and Geosaurus...

.

Phylogeny

Metriorhynchinae is a stem-based taxon defined in 2009 as the most inclusive clade consisting of Metriorhynchus geoffroyii, but not Geosaurus giganteus. Rhacheosaurini is a stem-based taxon and it was named and defined by Mark T. Young, Mark A. Bell and Stephen L. Brusatte in 2011 as the most inclusive clade including Rhacheosaurus gracilis, but not Metriorhynchus geoffroyii and Gracilineustes leedsi. The cladogram

Cladogram

A cladogram is a diagram used in cladistics which shows ancestral relations between organisms, to represent the evolutionary tree of life. Although traditionally such cladograms were generated largely on the basis of morphological characters, DNA and RNA sequencing data and computational...

 below follows the topology from a 2010 analysis by Mark T. Young, Stephen L. Brusatte, Marcello Ruta and Marco Brandalise de Andrade with clade names from Young et al. 2011.