Neosaurus
Neosaurus
Extinct genus of synapsids
Neosaurus is an extinct genus of pelycosaur-grade synapsids from the Late Carboniferous-Early Permian of the Jura region of France. It is known only from a partial maxilla or upper jaw bone and an associated impression of the bone.[1] The teardrop shape of the teeth in the jaw indicate that Neosaurus belongs to the family Sphenacodontidae, which includes the better-known Dimetrodon from the Southwestern United States. The maxilla was first attributed to an early diapsid reptile in 1857,[2][3] and later a crocodylomorph in 1869,[4] before finally being identified as a sphenacodont synapsid in 1899,[5] a classification that still holds today.[6]
A species of the hadrosaur dinosaur Hypsibema, H. missouriensis, is also called Neosaurus, although because the name was already in use, that species was renamed Parrosaurus before being reassigned to Hypsibema.[7]