'Nothosauriformes'
This invalid and now redundant clade arose out of confusion over the affinities of the placodonts. The name Nothosauriformes was proposed by Storrs (1993) to include the Eusauropterygia (which excludes pachypleurosaurs) and Placodontia. However, there is still dispute surrounding the inclusion of placodonts within the Sauropterygia (Sues, 1986) and it has been controversiala whether placodonts occupied a position within Sauropterygia more derived than the pachypleurosaurs. The placement of placodonts as the sister group to all other Sauropterygia is a widely expressed alternative. In this case the valid clade Eosauropterygia has been proposed to encompass all Sauropterygia minus the Placodontia, and this is the current consensus (Rieppel, 2002).
