For 20 years, the remains of a giant lizard that lived alongside dinosaurs were tucked away in a jar at the Natural History Museum of Utah. Simply labeled “lizard,” the fragmented and several millennia-old bones actually belonged to an entirely new species of giant lizard dug up from the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in southern Utah in 2005. Bolg amondol was a raccoon-sized armored mostesaurian lizard that lived about 77 million years ago, similar to today’s Gila monsters (Heloderma horridum). They are not much to look at, but they are jam-packed with valuable information on the anatomy and lifestyle of Bolg amondol. Skull of the modern monstersaur Heloderma horridum (LACM 159136), from the herpetology collection at NHMLAC, used for comparison with Bolg amondol (right).