Volia Temporal range:
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Reptilia |
Clade: | Archosauromorpha |
Clade: | Archosauriformes |
Order: | Crocodilia |
Clade: | †Mekosuchinae |
Genus: | †Volia Molnar, Worthy & Willis, 2002 |
Type species | |
†Volia athollandersoni Molnar, Worthy & Willis, 2002
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Volia is an extinct monospecific genus of mekosuchine crocodylian closely related to Mekosuchus and Trilophosuchus. Volia is known from a collection of largely fragmentary remains including skull bones and limbs recovered from the Voli Voli and Wainibuku Caves on Viti Levu (Fiji), with similar remains having been found on Naigani. It was around 2–3 metres (7–10 ft) long, making it the largest predatory animal on the island and subsequently most likely the apex predator of the Pleistocene ecosystems of Fiji. It may have fed on giant iguanas, flightless birds or even fish. Like its closest relatives, it may have been more terrestrial than today's crocodiles.