''Sinopliosaurus'' (meaning "Chinese more lizard"; in reference to ''

Pliosaurus ''Pliosaurus'' (meaning 'more lizard') is an extinct genus of thalassophonean pliosaurid known from the Kimmeridgian and Tithonian stages (Late Jurassic) of Europe and South America. Their diet would have included fish, cephalopods, and marine re ...

'') is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

pliosaur Pliosauroidea is an extinct clade of plesiosaurs, known from the earliest Jurassic to early Late Cretaceous. They are best known for the subclade Thalassophonea, which contained crocodile-like short-necked forms with large heads and massive tooth ...

oid

plesiosaur The Plesiosauria (; Greek: πλησίος, ''plesios'', meaning "near to" and ''sauros'', meaning "lizard") or plesiosaurs are an order or clade of extinct Mesozoic marine reptiles, belonging to the Sauropterygia. Plesiosaurs first appeared ...

, a type of short-necked marine reptile, alive during the

Aptian The Aptian is an age in the geologic timescale or a stage in the stratigraphic column. It is a subdivision of the Early or Lower Cretaceous Epoch or Series and encompasses the time from 121.4 ± 1.0 Ma to 113.0 ± 1.0 Ma (million years ago), a ...

and

Albian The Albian is both an age of the geologic timescale and a stage in the stratigraphic column. It is the youngest or uppermost subdivision of the Early/Lower Cretaceous Epoch/Series. Its approximate time range is 113.0 ± 1.0 Ma to 100.5 ± 0.9 M ...

stages of the

Early Cretaceous The Early Cretaceous ( geochronological name) or the Lower Cretaceous (chronostratigraphic name), is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous. It is usually considered to stretch from 145 Ma to 100.5 Ma. Geology Pro ...

(disputed ''Sinopliosaurus'' remains have been dated to the

Toarcian The Toarcian is, in the ICS' geologic timescale, an age and stage in the Early or Lower Jurassic. It spans the time between 182.7 Ma (million years ago) and 174.1 Ma. It follows the Pliensbachian and is followed by the Aalenian. The Toarcian ...

age and were found in the

Ziliujing Formation The Ziliujing Formation is a geological formation in China, It is Early Jurassic in age. It is part of the stratigraphy of the Sichuan Basin. The dinosaur ''Gongxianosaurus'' and indeterminate theropod material are known from the Dongyuemiao Mem ...

) of the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

- its exact age is unknown. The type species, ''Sinopliosaurus weiyuanensis'', was named and described in 1944 by

Yang Zhongjian Yang Zhongjian, also Yang Chung-chien (; 1 June 1897 – 15 January 1979), courtesy name Keqiang (), also known as C.C. (Chung Chien) Young, was a Chinese paleontologist and zoologist. He was one of China's foremost vertebrate paleontologists. H ...

.C.-C. Young. (1944). On the reptilian remains from Weiyuan, Szechuan, China. ''Bulletin of the Geological Society of China'' 24(3–4):187-205 One species, "S." ''fusuiensis'', was later shown to be based on teeth from a

spinosaur The Spinosauridae (or spinosaurids) are a clade or family of tetanuran theropod dinosaurs comprising ten to seventeen known genera. They came into prominence during the Cretaceous period. Spinosaurid fossils have been recovered worldwide, includi ...

theropod Theropoda (; ), whose members are known as theropods, is a dinosaur clade that is characterized by hollow bones and three toes and claws on each limb. Theropods are generally classed as a group of saurischian dinosaurs. They were ancestrally c ...

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...

which is now known as ''

Siamosaurus ''Siamosaurus'' (meaning "Siam reptile") is a genus of spinosaurid dinosaur that lived in what is now known as China and Thailand during the Early Cretaceous period (Barremian to Aptian) and is the first reported spinosaurid from Asia. It is ...

''. ''S. weiyuanensis'' would have lived near a

coastal The coast, also known as the coastline or seashore, is defined as the area where land meets the ocean, or as a line that forms the boundary between the land and the coastline. The Earth has around of coastline. Coasts are important zones in n ...

environment. The

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...

, IVPP V140, consists of three

vertebra The spinal column, a defining synapomorphy shared by nearly all vertebrates,Hagfish are believed to have secondarily lost their spinal column is a moderately flexible series of vertebrae (singular vertebra), each constituting a characteristic ...

e and a

tooth A tooth ( : teeth) is a hard, calcified structure found in the jaws (or mouths) of many vertebrates and used to break down food. Some animals, particularly carnivores and omnivores, also use teeth to help with capturing or wounding prey, tear ...

, discovered in a layer of the

Lianmugin Formation The Lianmuqin Formation, also transcribed as Lianmugin Formation,

(

Tugulu Group The Tugulu Group () is a geological Group in Xinjiang, China whose strata date back to the Early Cretaceous The Early Cretaceous ( geochronological name) or the Lower Cretaceous (chronostratigraphic name), is the earlier or lower of the two major ...

).Z. Dong. (1973). retaceous 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

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q7524937 Plesiosaurs of Asia Jurassic plesiosaurs Jurassic reptiles of Asia Early Cretaceous plesiosaurs Fossil taxa described in 1942 Early Cretaceous reptiles of Asia Albian genus extinctions Taxa named by Yang Zhongjian Sauropterygian genera

See also

References