# Wayaosaurus
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{{Short description|Extinct genus of reptiles}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| fossil_range = {{Fossil range|Carnian}}
| image =
| image_caption =
| taxon = Wayaosaurus
| authority = Zhou in Yin et al., 2000
| type_species = '''''{{extinct}} Wayaosaurus geei'''''
| type_species_authority = Zhou in Yin et al., 2000
| subdivision_ranks = Other species
| subdivision = * {{extinct}} ''Wayaosaurus bellus''
(Zhou in Yin et al., 2000)
}}
'''''Wayaosaurus''''' is an [extinct](/source/extinct) [genus](/source/genus) of [thalattosauria](/source/thalattosauria)n reptile that lived in what is now [China](/source/China). There are two species. The [type species](/source/type_species) '''''W. geei''''' and the second species, '''''W. bellus''''' were both named by the same authors in 2000.[Yin GZ, Zhou XG, Cao ZT, Yu YT, Luo YM. 2000. A preliminary study on the early Late Triassic marine reptiles from Guanling, Guizhou, China. Geol Geol Chem. 28(3):1–22.]
==Description and species==
===''Wayaosaurus geei''===
''W. geei'' was discovered near the town of [Xinpu](/source/Xinpu%2C_Guanling) in [Guanling County](/source/Guanling_County) of the [Guizhou Province](/source/Guizhou_Province) of China. The place it was found corresponds to the Wayao Member of the [Falang Formation](/source/Falang_Formation), which dates to the [Carnian](/source/Carnian) Stage of the [Late Triassic](/source/Late_Triassic). The [holotype](/source/holotype), given the specimen number Gmr 004 has been lost since its original description in 2000, and the existing records of its apparent diagnostic traits are actually [synapomorphies](/source/synapomorphies) of [Thalattosauria](/source/Thalattosauria) as a whole. Modern publications treat ''W. bellus'' as the only valid species.[{{cite journal |doi=10.1080/08912963.2023.2264886 |title=Reidentification of ''Wayaosaurus bellus'' and the conservative trunk and tail shape of Thalattosauria |date=2024 |last1=Chai |first1=Jun |last2=Lu |first2=Hao |last3=Jiang |first3=Da-Yong |last4=Motani |first4=Ryosuke |last5=Druckenmiller |first5=Patrick S. |last6=Tintori |first6=Andrea |last7=Kelley |first7=Neil P. |journal=Historical Biology |volume=36 |issue=12 |pages=2537–2556 |bibcode=2024HBio...36.2537C }}]
===''Wayaosaurus bellus''===
''W. bellus'' was discovered in the same place as the undiagnostic type species. The holotype, originally named Gmr 003, but later redesignated GZDB 0005, consists of a partially complete skull with a mandible, most of the presacral vertebrae, pectoral girdle, all four limbs, and part of the pelvic girdle. It was given an emended diagnosis by Jun Chai and colleagues in 2023. Its [autapomorphies](/source/autapomorphies) include: a relatively short mandibular symphysis, a maximum transverse width of the skull in the temporal region, a moderate expansion at the distal end of the [humerus](/source/humerus), a well-developed inner trochanter on the [femur](/source/femur), and a reduced deltopectoral crest.