Gaps and Dinosaurs

Relationships between form and function were of great importance to the work of Romer. Popular culture, as we have stated many times, does not readily remember Romer as a guy that taught form, function, and evolution; however, there are a few things other than literature and his teachings that have the potential to remind the population about what he did for science. The most notable mention of Romer is probably in the naming of a small genus of reptiles (Romeria) and a Dinosauromorph called Dromomeron romeri. The animal was named after Romer in part because it represents an evolutionary middle ground between the pre-dinosaur reptiles and the dinosaurs and therefore represents Romer's lifelong work in fossil form (partially at least). The second area that Romer's name may hit more than paleontologists in is in the form of geological time. A gap between early Devonian land animals and Carboniferous terrestrial populations was recognized by Romer and has been thereafter referred to as Romer's Gap.