在1905年,John C. Merriam建立海龙目与海龙科,包含一群特化的海生爬行动物,当时只包含海龙属。自从部分科学家将阿氏开普吐龙科归类于海龙目之后,海龙目的分类经常更动。部分科学家将阿氏开普吐龙科、海龙科共同归类于海龙目,并建立海龙超科(Thalattosauroidea),以包含海龙属的近亲;而部分科学家提出狭义的海龙目,并建立海龙形类(Thalattosauriformes),以包含海龙目、阿氏开普吐龙超科[1]。
^Rieppel, O., Liu, J., and Bucher, B. (2000). "The fist record of a thalattosaur reptile from the Late Triassic of Southern China (Guizhou Province, PR China)." Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 20(3): 507-514.
^Haaramo, M. (2004). "Thalattosauriformes," from Mikko's Phylogeny Archive. Accessed 4-OCT-2007. 存档副本. [2007-11-04]. (原始内容存档于2007-12-21).
^Cheng, Y., Wu, X., Li, C., and Tamaki, S. (2007). "A new thalattosaurian (Reptilia: Diapsida) from the Upper Triassic of Guizhou, China."
^Müller, J., Renesto, S., and Evans, S.E. (2005). "The marine diapsid reptile Endennasaurus (Reptilia: Thalattosauriformes) from the Late Triassic of Italy." Palaeont, 48: 15-30.
^Druckenmiller, Patrick S.; Kelley, Neil P.; Metz, Eric T.; Baichtal, James (4 February 2020). "An articulated Late Triassic (Norian) thalattosauroid from Alaska and ecomorphology and extinction of Thalattosauria"