Alfred Romer - Namesake

Namesake

A small genus of primitive reptiles is named Romeria after Romer, as is the term Romeriida (a cladistic term for all reptiles and birds, but excluding turtles). In July 2007 a species of pre-dinosaur or Dinosauromorpha was named Dromomeron romeri, "the first part meaning 'running femur,' the latter in honor of paleontologist Alfred Sherwood Romer, a key figure in evolution research". The finding of these fossils was hailed as a breakthrough proving dinosaurs and dinosauromorphs "lived together for as long as 15 million to 20 million years."

Romer was the first to recognise the gap in the fossil record between the early land fauna of the Devonian and the later Carboniferous period, a gap that still bears the name Romer's gap.