Romeosaurus

Romeosaurus is an extinct genus of yaguarasaurine mosasaur known from the early Late Cretaceous "Lastame" lithotype (lower Turonian to lower Santonian) 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.

Romeosaurus Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, Turonian–Santonian PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
R. fumanensis skull
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Clade:	†Mosasauria
Family:	†Mosasauridae
Clade:	†Russellosaurina
Subfamily:	†Yaguarasaurinae
Genus:	†Romeosaurus Palci et al., 2013
Species
†Romeosaurus fumanensis Palci et al., 2013 (type species) †Romeosaurus sorbinii Palci et al., 2013

Of all specimens recovered, none had well enough preserved post-cranial fossils to make good judgments of their post-cranial anatomy.^[1] As of 2018, only 1 specimen of R. sorbinii and 4 specimens of R. fumanensis were known.^[2]

Etymology

R. fumanensis skeleton

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 they play is set.^{[citation needed]} R. sorbinii is named after Lorenzo Sorbini, an Italian paleontologist, whilst R. fumanensis is named after Fumane, a comune in the Province of Verona.^{[citation needed]}

Phylogeny

Russellosaurina	Tethysaurinae Yaguarasaurus columbianus Russellosaurus coheni Romeosaurus fumenensis Romeosaurus sorbinii