Komodo dragons and Triassic Lizards

[shasta@xxxxxxxx]

>        I am a new subscriber and I want to say hello to everybody. My
>research is mainly on Triassic reptiles, especially diapsids from Northern
>Italy.
>        I will be pleased to discuss of these topics with anyone interested.
>best wishes
>    Silvio


I am fairly new as to this mailing list as well, and I have been out of the
country for 2 1/2 weeks.  We were in Indonesia, and a segment of our trip
took us to the islands of Komodo and Rinca to see the Komodo Dragons, or as
they are known by the locals, the oras.  Anyway, I heard that these big
reptiles have been around since the Jurassic Period and was wondering if
there were any similar creatures found around the world before the Jurassic.
The dragons, as you probably know, are diapsids, and are only found in
Indonesia.  However, they probably existed elsewhere as well.  Or did they?