Sinopliosaurus

Sinopliosaurus
Temporal range: Early Cretaceous, Aptian–Albian
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Superorder: †Sauropterygia
Order: †Plesiosauria
Family: †Pliosauridae
Genus: †Sinopliosaurus
Young, 1944
Type species
†Sinopliosaurus weiyuanensis
Young, 1944

Sinopliosaurus (meaning "Chinese more lizard") is a dubious genus of pliosauroid plesiosaur.[1] It lived during the Aptian and Albian stages of the Early Cretaceous[2] (disputed Sinopliosaurus remains have been dated to the Toarcian age and were found in the Ziliujing Formation)[3] of the People's Republic of China - its exact age is unknown. The type species, Sinopliosaurus weiyuanensis, was named and described in 1944 by Yang Zhongjian.[3] One species, "S." fusuiensis, was later shown to be based on teeth from a spinosaurid theropod dinosaur which is now known as Siamosaurus.[1] S. weiyuanensis was considered as a freshwater plesiosaur.[4]

The holotype, IVPP V140, consists of three vertebrae and a tooth, discovered in a layer of the Lianmugin Formation (Tugulu Group).[3][5]

  1. ^ a b Buffetaut, E.; Suteethorn, V.; Tong, H.; Amiot, R. (2008). "An Early Cretaceous spinosaur theropod from southern China". Geological Magazine. 145 (5): 745–748. Bibcode:2008GeoM..145..745B. doi:10.1017/S0016756808005360. S2CID 129921019.
  2. ^ C.-C. Young. (1973). "Plesiosaur remains discovered in Dsungar Basin, Sinkiang". Reports of Paleontological Expedition to Sinkiang (II): Pterosaurian Fauna from Wuerho, Sinkiang. Memoirs of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology Academia Sinica 11:13-17
  3. ^ a b c C.-C. Young. (1944). On the reptilian remains from Weiyuan, Szechuan, China. Bulletin of the Geological Society of China 24(3–4):187-205
  4. ^ Gao, Ting; Li, Da-Qing; Li, Long-Feng; Yang, Jing-Tao (2019-08-13). "The first record of freshwater plesiosaurian from the Middle Jurassic of Gansu, NW China, with its implications to the local palaeobiogeography". Journal of Palaeogeography. 8 (1): 27. Bibcode:2019JPalg...8...27G. doi:10.1186/s42501-019-0043-5. ISSN 2524-4507. S2CID 199547716.
  5. ^ Z. Dong. (1973). [Cretaceous stratigraphy of Wuerho district, Dsungar Basin]. Reports of Paleontological Expedition to Sinkiang (II): Pterosaurian Fauna from Wuerho, Sinkiang. Memoirs of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Academia Sinica 11:1-7