Sinopliosaurus

{{Short description|Extinct genus of reptiles}}

{{automatic taxobox

| fossil_range = Early Cretaceous, {{fossilrange|Aptian|Albian|earliest=183}}

| image =

| image_caption =

| taxon = Sinopliosaurus

| authority = Young, 1944

| type_species = {{extinct}}Sinopliosaurus weiyuanensis

| type_species_authority = Young, 1944

}}

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.{{cite journal |last=Buffetaut |first=E. |author2=Suteethorn, V. |author3=Tong, H. |author4=Amiot, R. |year=2008 |title=An Early Cretaceous spinosaur theropod from southern China |journal=Geological Magazine |volume=145 |issue=5 |pages=745–748 |doi=10.1017/S0016756808005360|bibcode=2008GeoM..145..745B |s2cid=129921019 }} S. weiyuanensis was considered as a freshwater plesiosaur.{{Cite journal|last1=Gao|first1=Ting|last2=Li|first2=Da-Qing|last3=Li|first3=Long-Feng|last4=Yang|first4=Jing-Tao|date=2019-08-13|title=The first record of freshwater plesiosaurian from the Middle Jurassic of Gansu, NW China, with its implications to the local palaeobiogeography|journal=Journal of Palaeogeography|volume=8|issue=1|pages=27|doi=10.1186/s42501-019-0043-5|bibcode=2019JPalg...8...27G|s2cid=199547716|issn=2524-4507|doi-access=free}}

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