A newly identified dinosaur-era lizard species, estimated to be 76 million years old, has been discovered in Utah, offering rare insight into the state’s prehistoric ecosystem. The fossil, part of a specimen originally unearthed at Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in 2005, had quietly remained in storage at the Natural History Museum of Utah until recently.
The discovery stems from a moment of curiosity by Henrik Woolley, a postdoctoral fellow at the Dinosaur Institute at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. During a visit to the Utah museum, he came across a jar with a simple label: “lizard.”
Inside was a fragmentary skeleton that sparked his interest and would eventually lead to the identification of a previously unknown dinosaur species discovered in Utah.
Researchers believe the fossil belongs to an ancient ancestor of the Gila monster, a venomous lizard still found in the American Southwest. The team’s findings, published this week in Royal Society Open Science, shed new light on a thriving ecosystem that existed in the region during the Late Cretaceous period.
Goblin-like lizard named after a Tolkien character
The new species has been named Bolg amondol, or “Bolg” for short—a reference to a goblin prince from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, chosen because of the creature’s goblin-like skull. Measuring roughly the size of a modern raccoon, Bolg lived in a subtropical floodplain, sharing its environment with several other large reptiles.
“What’s particularly exciting is what it tells us about the unique 76-million-year-old ecosystem it lived in,” said Randy Irmis, a co-author of the study and curator of paleontology at the Natural History Museum of Utah.
The fossil, surprisingly well preserved, includes parts of the skull, backbone, and limbs—an uncommon level of completeness for lizard fossils from that era. Woolley, an expert in lizard evolution, led the team that analyzed the remains and confirmed that they represented a species not previously documented by science.
Fossil provides insight into ancient ecosystems
Researchers say Bolg’s presence alongside other large lizards suggests the area supported a stable and diverse range of life. The discovery may help fill gaps in understanding how lizards evolved and adapted through time, particularly species related to modern Gila monsters.
Irmis, who also co-authored a recent study on ancient crocodilians and their survival strategies, believes findings like Bolg add important context to how different animals responded to extinction events and environmental shifts.
Scientists also believe Bolg may not be the only species of its kind. Similar fossils could still be buried in Utah’s protected lands—or tucked away unnoticed in museum collections, waiting for discovery.