在1905年,John C. Merriam建立海龍目與海龍科,包含一群特化的海生爬蟲類,當時只包含海龍屬。自從部分科學家將阿氏開普吐龍科歸類於海龍目之後,海龍目的分類經常更動。部分科學家將阿氏開普吐龍科、海龍科共同歸類於海龍目,並建立海龍超科(Thalattosauroidea),以包含海龍屬的近親;而部分科學家提出狹義的海龍目,並建立海龍形類(Thalattosauriformes),以包含海龍目、阿氏開普吐龍超科[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]. (原始內容存檔於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"