Family Cytheruridae M̹ller, 1894

Remarks

The classification of Triassic and Early Jurassic Cytheruridae was revised by Whatley & Boomer (2000), who considered that they are distributed in two subfamilies: Cytheropterinae Hanai, 1957 and Cytherurinae M̹ller, 1894. Conversely, Maddocks & Steineck (1987) and Mazzini & Gliozzi (2000) proposed a three subfamily arrangement for the Cytheruridae: Cytheropterinae Hanai, 1957, Cytherurinae M̹ller, 1894 and Eucytherurinae Puri, 1974 (emend. Maddocks & Steineck 1987). The recent phylogenetic analysis carried on the living Eucytherurinae Xylocythere sarrazinae Tanaka & Hayashi, 2019 from a hydrothermal vent field in the northeastern Pacific Ocean, supports the three subfamily scheme (Tanaka & Hayashi 2019). This molecular analysis furthermore highlights the basal position of Xylocythere sarrazinae, supporting the hypothesis of an ancient origin of Eucytherurinae. In their revision, Whatley & Boomer (2000) considered a number of Early Mesozoic Cytheruridae as junior synonyms of the extant genus Eucytherura Müller, 1894 and classified this genus within the Cytherurinae, in line with contributions on extent Cytheruridae (e.g., Ayress et al. 1995; Ballent & Whatley 2009).