Vinialesaurus is a genusofplesiosaur from the Late Jurassic (Oxfordian) Jagua FormationofPinar del Río, Cuba. The type speciesisVinialesaurus caroli, first described as Cryptocleidus caroli by De la Torre and Rojas in 1949 under the holotype MNHNCu P 3008,[1] and redescribed by Gasparini, Bardet and Iturralde in 2002. The authors of the 2002 paper considered Vinialesaurus distinct enough from Cryptocleidus to warrant its own genus, but it was broadly similar to Cryptocleidus.[2]
| Vinialesaurus ↓ | |
|---|---|
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| Restoration | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Superorder: | †Sauropterygia |
| Order: | †Plesiosauria |
| Family: | †Cryptoclididae |
| Genus: | †Vinialesaurus Gasparini et al., 2002 |
| Species: |
†V. caroli
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| Binomial name | |
| †Vinialesaurus caroli Gasparini et al., 2002 | |
| Synonyms | |
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The name Vinialesaurus honors Viñales, the town in western Cuba where the fossils of Vinialesaurus was discovered. These fossils consist of a mostly complete skull, jaw, and portions of the vertebrae.[2]
