Lariosauro is a cryptid reported to live in Lake Como, Italy.
In 1946, eye witnesses allegedly reported seeing a reptile-like animal swimming in the waters of the lake. It was called lariosauro, the same name used a century before to name a prehistoric reptile whose fossilized remains were found by the lake (Lariosauro balsami). This name is combination of "Lario", the place where it was found, and "dinosauro" or dinosaur in Italian. A weekly of Como, a week after the first article, wrote it was a sturgeon, but the sturgeon as well as the monster appear to be more simply a hoax invented by the press.
There were other sightings, or alleged sightings, in Lake Como.
- In 1954 in Argegno a creature with round muzzle and back and webbed paws.
- In August 1957 an enormous monster in the waters between Dongo and Musso.
- In September 1957 a strange animal whose head was described as similar to a crocodile head.
- In 2003 a giant eel, 10–12 m long, in Lecco.
Skeptic researcher Giorgio Castiglioni, who studied these cases, thinks that the animal of 1954 was an otter, the monster of August 1957 a hoax, the beast of September 1957 possibly a pike and the 2003 eel actually a group of fish swimming together.
Gallery
