Ziphosuchia is a clade

Clade

A clade is a group consisting of a species and all its descendants. In the terms of biological systematics, a clade is a single "branch" on the "tree of life". The idea that such a "natural group" of organisms should be grouped together and given a taxonomic name is central to biological...

 of mesoeucrocodylia

Mesoeucrocodylia

Mesoeucrocodylia is the name of the clade that includes Eusuchia and the paraphyletic group Mesosuchia. The group appeared during the Early Jurassic, and continues to the present day....

n crocodyliforms that includes notosuchia

Notosuchia

Notosuchia is a suborder of primarily Gondwanan mesoeucrocodylian crocodylomorphs that lived during the Cretaceous. Fossils have been found from South America, Africa, and Asia...

ns and sebecosuchia

Sebecosuchia

Sebecosuchia is an extinct group of mesoeucrocodylian crocodyliforms that includes the families Sebecidae and Baurusuchidae. The group first appeared in the Late Cretaceous with the baurusuchids and went extinct in the Miocene with the last sebecids. Fossils have been found primarily from South...

ns. First constructed in 2000, it was considered to include Notosuchus

Notosuchus

Notosuchus is an extinct genus of South American notosuchian crocodylomorph. It was terrestrial, living approximately 85 million years ago in the Coniacian or Santonian stages of the Late Cretaceous. Remains have been found in the Bajo de la Carpa Formation in Patagonia, Argentina. First named in...

, Libycosuchus

Libycosuchus

Libycosuchus is an extinct genus of North African crocodylomorph possibly related to Notosuchus. It was terrestrial, living approximately 95 million years ago in the Cenomanian stage of the Late Cretaceous...

, and Sebecosuchia

Sebecosuchia

Sebecosuchia is an extinct group of mesoeucrocodylian crocodyliforms that includes the families Sebecidae and Baurusuchidae. The group first appeared in the Late Cretaceous with the baurusuchids and went extinct in the Miocene with the last sebecids. Fossils have been found primarily from South...

. In a 2004 phylogenetic study, it was defined as the most recent common ancestor

Most recent common ancestor

In genetics, the most recent common ancestor of any set of organisms is the most recent individual from which all organisms in the group are directly descended...

 of Notosuchus, Libycosuchus, and Baurusuchoidea and all of its descendants.

Ziphosuchia is often considered to be the sister group of Neosuchia

Neosuchia

Neosuchia is an unranked clade within Mesoeucrocodylia that includes all modern extant crocodilians and their closest fossil relatives. It is defined as the most inclusive clade containing all crocodylomorphs more closely related to Crocodylus niloticus than to Notosuchus terrestris...

, a clade that includes modern crocodilians. Because the fossil range of Neosuchia extends back to the Early Jurassic

Early Jurassic

The Early Jurassic epoch is the earliest of three epochs of the Jurassic period...

 with the family Goniopholididae

Goniopholididae

Goniopholididae is an extinct family of moderate-sized semi-aquatic crocodyliforms similar to living crocodiles. They lived between the Early Jurassic and the Late Cretaceous.-Geographical distribution:...

, a ghost lineage

Ghost lineage

A ghost lineage is a phylogenetic lineage that is inferred to exist but has no fossil record....

of ziphosuchians dating back to that divergence point can be expected.