Sinopliosaurus (meaning "Chinese more lizard") is a dubious genus of pliosauroid plesiosaur. It lived during the Aptian and Albian stages of the Early CretaceousC.-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 (disputed Sinopliosaurus remains have been dated to the Toarcian age and were found in the Ziliujing Formation) 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.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 spinosaurid theropod dinosaur which is now known as Siamosaurus. S. weiyuanensis was considered as a freshwater plesiosaur.
The holotype, IVPP V140, consists of three vertebrae and a tooth, discovered in a layer of the Lianmugin Formation (Tugulu Group).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
See also List of plesiosaur genera Timeline of plesiosaur research
References