''Sanchuansaurus'' is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

genus of

pareiasaur Pareiasaurs (meaning "cheek lizards") are an extinct clade of large, herbivorous parareptiles. Members of the group were armoured with osteoderms which covered large areas of the body. They first appeared in southern Pangea during the Middle Per ...

from the late

Permian The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years, from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.902 Mya. It is the s ...

Sunjiagou Formation of China. The genus contains a single species, ''S. pygmaeus'', known from a partial

maxilla In vertebrates, the maxilla (: maxillae ) is the upper fixed (not fixed in Neopterygii) bone of the jaw formed from the fusion of two maxillary bones. In humans, the upper jaw includes the hard palate in the front of the mouth. The two maxil ...

and left leg bones. A 2013 study suggested that both ''Sanchuansaurus'' and another Chinese pareiasaur, ''

Huanghesaurus ''Shihtienfenia'' is an extinct genus of pareiasaurid parareptile from the Late Permian of China. Species Lee (1997) refers to ''S. xuecunensis'' as a metaspecies lacking the autapomorphies of ''Shihtienfenia''. Tsuji & Müller (2009) seem to ...

'', were synonymous with ''

Shansisaurus ''Shihtienfenia'' is an extinct genus of pareiasaurid parareptile from the Late Permian of China. Species Lee (1997) refers to ''S. xuecunensis'' as a metaspecies lacking the autapomorphies of ''Shihtienfenia''. Tsuji & Müller (2009) seem to ...

''. However, this has not been followed in future research, with later papers considering ''Sanchuansaurus'' to be distinct, with ''Huanghesaurus'' and ''Shansisaurus'' possibly being synonymous with ''

Shihtienfenia ''Shihtienfenia'' is an extinct genus of pareiasaurid parareptile from the Late Permian of China. Species Lee (1997) refers to ''S. xuecunensis'' as a metaspecies lacking the autapomorphies of ''Shihtienfenia''. Tsuji & Müller (2009) seem to ...

'', another Chinese pareiasaur.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q124059882 Pareiasauria Permian China Prehistoric animals of China Permian reptiles of Asia Prehistoric reptile genera Fossil taxa described in 1988