Teleosauridae is phylogenetically defined in the PhyloCode by Mark T. Young and colleagues as "the largest clade within Teleosauroidea containing Teleosaurus cadomensis but not Machimosaurus hugii.2 Teleosauridae is split into two subfamilies, the Teleosaurinae and the Aeolodontinae, the former defined in the PhyloCode as "the largest clade within Teleosauroidea containing Teleosaurus cadomensis, but not Aeolodon priscus and the latter defined in the PhyloCode as "the largest clade within Teleosauroidea containing Aeolodon pricus, but not Teleosaurus cadomensis.3
Metriorhynchoidea
Plagiophthalmosuchus
Machimosauridae
Indosinosuchus kalasinensis
Chinese teleosauroid
Mystriosaurus
Indosinosuchus potamosiamensis
Teleosaurus
Platysuchus
Mycterosuchus
Aeolodon
Sericodon
Bathysuchus
Teleosaurids were originally regarded as marine analogues to modern gharials, as they both typically share long, tubular snouts and narrow teeth. However, differences in the jaws, teeth, and skeleton of different teleosaurids suggest that they were more ecologically diverse than this. Earlier teleosaurids were coastal semi-aquatic generalists, while the two subfamilies were more specialised. Teleosaurines appear to have been semi-terrestrial, as they were more heavily armoured and had forward-facing nostrils. In contrast, aeolodontines have been found in deep marine waters and had reduced armour, implying that they were open water predators similar to metriorhynchoids (although the oldest aeolodontine, Mycterosuchus, appears to have been semi-terrestrial, similar to teleosaurines).45
Definitive fossils of teleosaurids are restricted to Laurasia, with material found in Europe(England, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Russia and Switzerland) and Asia (China and Thailand, and possibly India).6
Johnson, Michela M.; Young, Mark T.; Brusatte, Stephen L. (2020). "The phylogenetics of Teleosauroidea (Crocodylomorpha, Thalattosuchia) and implications for their ecology and evolution". PeerJ. 8: e9808. doi:10.7717/peerj.9808. ISSN 2167-8359. PMC 7548081. PMID 33083104. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7548081 ↩
Young, Mark T.; Wilberg, Eric W.; Johnson, Michela M.; Herrera, Yanina; De Andrade, Marco Brandalise; Brignon, Arnaud; Sachs, Sven; Abel, Pascal; Foffa, Davide; Fernández, Marta S.; Vignaud, Patrick; Cowgill, Thomas; Brusatte, Stephen L. (2024). "The history, systematics, and nomenclature of Thalattosuchia (Archosauria: Crocodylomorpha)". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 200 (2): 547–617. doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zlad165. https://doi.org/10.1093%2Fzoolinnean%2Fzlad165 ↩
Foffa, D.; Johnson, M.M.; Young, M.T.; Steel, L.; Brusatte, S.L. (2019). "Revision of the Late Jurassic deep-water teleosauroid crocodylomorph Teleosaurus megarhinus Hulke, 1871 and evidence of pelagic adaptations in Teleosauroidea". PeerJ. 7: e6646. doi:10.7717/peerj.6646. PMC 6450380. PMID 30972249. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6450380 ↩