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NEPTUNIDRACO
(nep-teu-ne-dray-ko)
meaning: "Neptune's dragon"
Neptunidraco
Named By: A. Cau & F. Fanti in 2011
Time Period: Middle Jurassic, Bajocian-Bathonian
Location: Italy - Rosso Ammonitico Veronese Formation
Size: Roughly about 4 meters long
Diet: Piscivore/Carnivore
Fossil(s): Partial skull and lower jaws. Total remains from at least three individuals known
Classification: | Chordata | Reptilia | Crocodylomorpha | Thalattosuchia | Metriorhynchidae | Geosaurinae |
About

Neptunidraco (meaning "Neptune's dragon") is an extinct genus of carnivorous marine crocodyliform which lived during the middle Jurassic period (late Bajocian to earliest Bathonian stage) in what is now northeastern Italy. It is known from a partial skeleton (incomplete skull with mandible) recovered from the nodular limestone of the Rosso Ammonitico Veronese Formation. This specimen had been provisionally referred to an unnamed species of Late Jurassic Metriorhynchus or Geosaurus. Neptunidraco was named by Andrea Cau and Federico Fanti in 2011 and the type species is Neptunidraco ammoniticus. The "Portomaggiore crocodile" is the most complete specimen of an Italian metriorhynchid to date and the oldest known metriorhynchid.

"Steneosaurus barettoni" was referred to Neptunidraco in a 2013 study.

Read more about Neptunidraco at Wikipedia
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