Miodentosaurus

Miodentosaurus is a genus of thalattosaurian (a type of extinct marine reptile) from the Late Triassic of China. It is one of several thalattosaurs found in the Xiaowa Formation, also known as the Wayao Member of the Falang Formation. The genus name "Miodentosaurus" translates to "Few toothed-lizard" while the species name "brevis" means "short", in reference to its short snout.

== Description == Miodentosaurus is a thalattosaur, a group of marine reptiles with long, paddle-like tails and short legs with independently movable digits. It was a large member of the group, with a complete specimen measuring long. Miodentosaurus is specifically an Askeptosauroid, a specific group of thalattosaurs with rather straight snouts. Despite being closely related to Askeptosaurus (a thalattosaur with a very long and toothy snout), Miodentosaurus had a quite short snout (shorter than the rest of the head) with only a few conical teeth on the premaxillae and dentaries. Although this snout configuration is not known in any other thalattosaurians, Miodentosaurus does share a number of other features with Askeptosauroids, such as having 10 neck vertebrae and a large pineal foramen.