Sauropterygia

Sauropterygia ("lizard flippers") were a group of very successful aquatic reptiles that flourished during the Mesozoic before they became extinct at the end of the era. They were united by a radical adaptation of their shoulder, designed to support powerful flipper strokes. The earliest sauropterygians appeared about 245 million years ago (Ma), at the start of the Triassic period. They quickly grew to be several metres long and spread into shallow waters (nothosaurs). The Triassic-Jurassic extinction event wiped them all out except for the plesiosaurs. During the Early Jurassic these diversified quickly into both long-necked small-headed plesiosaurs proper, and short-necked large-headed pliosaurs. Originally it was thought that plesiosaurs and pliosaurs were two distinct superfamilies that followed separate evolutionary paths. It now seems that these were simply morphotypes in that both types evolved a number of times, with some pliosaurs evolving from plesiosaur ancestors, and vice-versa. For more information visit the Wikipedia entry Get back to Reptile
Atopodentatus	Attenborosaurus	Brachauchenius
Dolichorhynchops	Elasmosaurus	Futabasaurus
Glyphoderma	Henodus	Hydrotherosaurus
Keichousaurus	Kronosaurus	Liopleurodon
†Mauisaurus	Nothosaurus	Placochelys
Placodus	Plesiosaurus	Pliosaurus
Rhomaleosaurus	Umoonasaurus	Woolungasaurus