Neosaurus

Neosaurus ('New Lizard') 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]

Neosaurus Temporal range: Late Carboniferous-Early Permian, 300–295.5 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Holotype
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Synapsida
Family:	†Sphenacodontidae
Genus:	†Neosaurus Nopsca, 1923
Type species
†Neosaurus cynodus (Gervais, 1869)
Synonyms
Geosaurus cynodus Gervais, 1869

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]