Romeosaurus


Romeosaurus is an extinct genus of yaguarasaurine mosasaur known from the early Late Cretaceous "Lastame" lithotype of northern Italy. It contains two species, Romeosaurus sorbinii and Romeosaurus fumanensis. Of the 2 species, R. sorbinii is known only through very fragmented fossil records of a single specimen and is otherwise poorly described. R. fumanensis is known through more specimens found across a small geographic area in Italy.
Of all specimens recovered, none had well enough preserved post-cranial fossils to make good judgments of their post-cranial anatomy. As of 2018, only 1 specimen of R. sorbinii and 4 specimens of R. fumanensis were known.

Etymology

The genus is named after the character Romeo in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, due to the proximity of the locations of the fossils to Verona, where the play is set. R. sorbinii is named after Lorenzo Sorbini, an Italian paleontologist, whilst R. fumanensis is named after Fumane, a comune in the Province of Verona.