The Mediterranean or Common Dragon (Draco mediterraeanus) - original range of this giant monitor was the shores of the Mediterranean, where they preyed upon deer, goats, sheep, and when available carrion. They gave rise to Greek legends about dragons, including the hydra fought by Hercules and the sea monster Scylla.
        A threat to civilization, they were slowly exterminated across the Mediterranean by Greek, Phoenician, and Roman  settlers.  The Mycenaean civilization saw to their eradication in Greece by about 1230 BC, though when the civilization fell to the Dorians in 1120 BC they temporarily repopulated the peninsula. Much evidence exists that the Mycenaean’s knew of the dragon, as many decorative frescoes of dragons were found in the ruins of Knossos on Crete, once the chief Mycenaean city and excavated by the British archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans from 1900 onwards.
        The Phoenicians established themselves a number of cities on the Levant (eastern Mediterranean coast) by 3000 BC, including such major cities as Byblos, Sidon, and Tyre. The Phoenicians bore the dragons no particular animosity, and as they were the greatest traders of the age they did not face large threats to livestock from the beasts. However, the pressures of civilization are difficult on such large animals, and the last known Common Dragon of the eastern Mediterranean perished around 890 BC.  Their growing importance in trade of dragon skins, teeth, and vital parts lead to this, but more likely there was considerable habitat destruction.
        Though they faced some pressures from the Etruscan civilization, it was the Romans who ended up pretty much eliminating the Mediterranean Dragon as a species. The last Italian dragons died by the mid-2nd century BC (already decimated by Greek settlers as well).  By 1 AD they were gone from Sicily thanks to the spread of the Romans.
 One of the last places in the central Mediterranean where they vanished was Corsica. A Roman province often used as a place of political banishment, to “be sent to the dragons” meant to be sent to Corsica, away from Rome and thus away from power and influence. The Corsican population was extinct by around 120 AD.
        Later populations in western North Africa and Spain died off as Romans settled the region and wild populations were rounded up for the gladiatorial games or by emperors on imperial hunting missions, the last of the western population when a specimen was killed around 322 AD.
        Many bones, some seemingly fresh, were found on into the Middle Ages, further solidifying legends of dragons in European legend. When the Knights Templar retreated to the island of Cyprus after Acre fell in 1291 and became great bankers thanks to the immense wealth, they also made a tidy profit in selling dragon relics to nobles in Europe (thanks to the many well preserved bones on Cyprus). Billed variously as bones of demons, leviathans, or behemoths, they were but one more element in the thriving relic trade of Europe that extended into modern times.
        Centuries later a remnant population was discovered in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco, making temporarily Marrakech the "dragon hunting capital of the world" as French adventurers set out to hunt them, capturing the imagination of Europe and leading to a dragon "fad" in French fashion and cuisine. This very last group is thought to have died out in the mid 19th century along with the now extinct Atlas Bear (the only bear of Africa).

        The Madeira Dragon (Draco atlanticus) - Island species found in the Madeira Archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, are smaller than most dragon species. Likely they arrived by some sort of accident millennia ago, they adapted to their island existence perfectly.  In a manner similar to elephants and hippos on Mediterranean islands such as Malta, the Madeira Dragon became something of a dwarf species, less than half the length of the Common Dragon. Their legs were also different, shorter and with some of the smaller bones fused together. The Madeira Dragon was not as swift a runner as the Mediterranean Dragon, but was instead adapted to picking its way over the rocky terrain of the islands.
        Though the Romans knew they existed there, they were largely untouched until the island group was discovered in 1418 by João Gonçalves Zarco and Tristão Vas Teixeira of Portugal. The dragons were first placed under the protection of Prince Henry the Navigator, but were extinct within a hundred years due to pressure from colonists. When the islands were temporarily occupied by the British in the early 19th century, large numbers of dragon bones and fossils were brought back to England.

Dragons of-

           EUROPE- The Mediterranean or Common Dragon, and the Medeira Dragon.

           AFRICA- The Saharan Dragon, and the Lake Chad Dragon.

           ASIA- The Arabian Dragon, and the Great Thar Dragon.

           THE PACIFIC- The Malaysian Dragon, the Ryukyu Dragon and the New Zealand Dragon.

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