''Sinosaurichthys'' is an extinct

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

of saurichthyid

ray-finned fish Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fishes, is a class of bony fish. They comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. The ray-finned fishes are so called because their fins are webs of skin supported by bony or h ...

, which existed in southwestern China during the Middle

Triassic The Triassic ( ) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.6 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.36 Mya. The Triassic is the first and shortest period ...

(

Anisian In the geologic timescale, the Anisian is the lower stage or earliest age of the Middle Triassic series or epoch and lasted from million years ago until million years ago. The Anisian Age succeeds the Olenekian Age (part of the Lower Trias ...

age). Fossils have been found in the Upper Member of the Guanling Formation of two localities: Yangjuan of Panxian County,

Guizhou Province Guizhou (; formerly Kweichow) is a landlocked province in the southwest region of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Guiyang, in the center of the province. Guizhou borders the autonomous region of Guangxi to t ...

, and Dawazi of Luoping, Yunnan Province, China. It was first named by Wu Feixiang, Sun Yuanlin, Xu Guanghui, Hao Weicheng, Jiang Dayong and Sun Zuoyu in 2010. The

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen( ...

is ''Sinosaurichthys longipectoralis''. There are two additional species, ''S. longimedialis'' and ''S. minuta''. The species ''Saurichthys spinosa'' from the

Middle Triassic In the geologic timescale, the Middle Triassic is the second of three epochs of the Triassic period or the middle of three series in which the Triassic system is divided in chronostratigraphy. The Middle Triassic spans the time between Ma ...

of China may be closely related with ''Sinosaurichthys''. ''Sinosaurichthys'' is often treated as a subgenus of '' Saurichthys'', rather than a genus.Tintori, A. 2013. A new species of ''Saurichthys'' (Actinopterygii) from the Middle Triassic (early Ladinian) of the northern Grigna Mountain (Lombardy, Italy). Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia. 119 (3): 287–302.

References

Fossil taxa described in 2010 Saurichthyiformes Prehistoric ray-finned fish genera Triassic bony fish Triassic fish of Asia Anisian life Guanling Formation {{Triassic-fish-stub