‘Goblin Prince': New armored lizard that lived alongside dinosaurs found
A raccoon-sized armored lizard has been identified through the fossilized remains found in Southern Utah.
The discovery reveals a surprising diversity of large reptiles thriving right alongside the titans of the Late Cretaceous.
The new species has been named Bolg amondol. And yes, if that name sounds familiar, it's inspired by the goblin prince from J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit." A fitting moniker for a creature that looks like it stepped right out of a fantasy epic.
'Bolg is a great sounding name. It's a goblin prince from 'The Hobbit,' and I think of these lizards as goblin-like, especially looking at their skulls,' Hank Woolley, lead author from the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County's Dinosaur Institute.
'We know very little about large-bodied lizards from the Kaiparowits Formation in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah, so I knew this was significant right away,' Woolley added.
This incredible find wasn't made in the field, but hidden away in a museum drawer for years.
'I opened this jar of bones labeled 'lizard' at the Natural History Museum of Utah, and was like, oh wow, there's a fragmentary skeleton here,' added Woolley.
It highlights the vital role natural history museums play in scientific discovery, proving that even fragments can hold a treasure trove of information.
Researchers pieced together the story of this ancient lizard from tiny bits of skull, limbs, vertebrae, and those characteristic bony armor plates called osteoderms.
Despite having a history spanning approximately 100 million years, their fossil record is notably incomplete.
Even though it's fragmentary, these pieces contain enough clues to place Bolg firmly on the lizard family tree.
This newly discovered lizard species lived roughly 76 million years ago. Its coexistence with several other large lizard species suggests it was part of a stable and productive ancient ecosystem.
Bolg amondol is a member of an ancient lineage called monstersaurs – large, often armored lizards that still have modern-day relatives roaming deserts today, like the Gila monster.
The ancient reptile stood at about three feet long from tip to tail.
To put its size in perspective, it was comparable to a modern Savannah monitor lizard, making it an animal you wouldn't want to encounter casually.
But perhaps one of the most surprising revelations is Bolg's closest known relative, who lives across the globe in Asia's Gobi Desert.
It suggests that not just large dinosaurs, but smaller creatures like this lizard also journeyed between these ancient, once-connected continents. It's shedding new light on how life spread across our planet millions of years ago.
The Kaiparowits Formation within Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument continues to be a paleontological hotspot, yielding an astonishing record of prehistoric life.
'The exceptional record of big lizards from Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument may prove to be a normal part of dinosaur-dominated ecosystems from North America, filling key roles as smaller predators hunting down eggs and small animals in the forests of Laramidia,' said co-author Joe Sertich from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and Colorado State University.
The findings were published in the journal Royal Society Open Science.
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a day ago
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‘Goblin Prince': New armored lizard that lived alongside dinosaurs found
A raccoon-sized armored lizard has been identified through the fossilized remains found in Southern Utah. The discovery reveals a surprising diversity of large reptiles thriving right alongside the titans of the Late Cretaceous. The new species has been named Bolg amondol. And yes, if that name sounds familiar, it's inspired by the goblin prince from J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit." A fitting moniker for a creature that looks like it stepped right out of a fantasy epic. 'Bolg is a great sounding name. It's a goblin prince from 'The Hobbit,' and I think of these lizards as goblin-like, especially looking at their skulls,' Hank Woolley, lead author from the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County's Dinosaur Institute. 'We know very little about large-bodied lizards from the Kaiparowits Formation in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah, so I knew this was significant right away,' Woolley added. This incredible find wasn't made in the field, but hidden away in a museum drawer for years. 'I opened this jar of bones labeled 'lizard' at the Natural History Museum of Utah, and was like, oh wow, there's a fragmentary skeleton here,' added Woolley. It highlights the vital role natural history museums play in scientific discovery, proving that even fragments can hold a treasure trove of information. Researchers pieced together the story of this ancient lizard from tiny bits of skull, limbs, vertebrae, and those characteristic bony armor plates called osteoderms. Despite having a history spanning approximately 100 million years, their fossil record is notably incomplete. Even though it's fragmentary, these pieces contain enough clues to place Bolg firmly on the lizard family tree. This newly discovered lizard species lived roughly 76 million years ago. Its coexistence with several other large lizard species suggests it was part of a stable and productive ancient ecosystem. Bolg amondol is a member of an ancient lineage called monstersaurs – large, often armored lizards that still have modern-day relatives roaming deserts today, like the Gila monster. The ancient reptile stood at about three feet long from tip to tail. To put its size in perspective, it was comparable to a modern Savannah monitor lizard, making it an animal you wouldn't want to encounter casually. But perhaps one of the most surprising revelations is Bolg's closest known relative, who lives across the globe in Asia's Gobi Desert. It suggests that not just large dinosaurs, but smaller creatures like this lizard also journeyed between these ancient, once-connected continents. It's shedding new light on how life spread across our planet millions of years ago. The Kaiparowits Formation within Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument continues to be a paleontological hotspot, yielding an astonishing record of prehistoric life. 'The exceptional record of big lizards from Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument may prove to be a normal part of dinosaur-dominated ecosystems from North America, filling key roles as smaller predators hunting down eggs and small animals in the forests of Laramidia,' said co-author Joe Sertich from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and Colorado State University. The findings were published in the journal Royal Society Open Science.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Bones of a raccoon-sized prehistoric lizard sat in a jar for 20 years
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). It is named after the goblin prince from The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien and is described in a study published June 17 in the open-access journal Royal Society Open Science. It also serves as another reminder to double check those museum cabinets. The living and fossil lizards in the clade Monstersauria are defined by their large size and distinctive features, including pitted, polygonal armor attached to their skulls and sharp, spire-like teeth. While these lizards have been on Earth for roughly 100 million years, their fossil record is largely incomplete. Finding this new species of Bolg was a step towards understanding more about these lizards–and Bolg would have been quite the formidable monster. 'Three feet tip to tail, maybe even bigger than that, depending on the length of the tail and torso,' said Hank Woolley, a study co-author and paleontologist at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles' Dinosaur Institute who found the unsuspecting glass jar. 'So by modern lizard standards, a very large animal, similar in size to a Savannah monitor lizard; something that you wouldn't want to mess around with.' [ Related: Giant lizards could keep flesh-eating maggots off Australia's sheep. ] Finding this new species of monstersaur indicates that there were probably many more kinds of big lizards roaming the Earth during the Late Cretaceous–just before the dinosaurs went extinct. Bolg's closest known relative, Gobiderma pulchrum, once stalked Asia's Gobi Desert. While paleontologists have long known that dinosaurs traveled between the once connected continents during the Late Cretaceous Period, Bolg reveals that smaller animals made similar treks. According to the team, this suggests common patterns of biogeography across land-dwelling vertebrates during this time. The specimens in this study were first uncovered in 2005 in the Kaiparowits Formation of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. This area overseen by the United States Bureau of Land Management has emerged as a paleontological hotspot over the past 25 years, producing dozens of new species. Discoveries like this also underscore the importance of keeping public lands in the United States safe for future scientific research. The team used tiny pieces of the skull, vertebrae, girdles, limbs, and the bony armor called osteoderms to identify this new species. 'What's really interesting about this holotype specimen of Bolg is that it's fragmentary, yes, but we have a broad sample of the skeleton preserved,' Woolley said. 'There's no overlapping bones—there's not two left hip bones or anything like that. So we can be confident that these remains likely belonged to a single individual.' Most of the fossil lizards that lived during the Age of Dinosaurs were even more fragmented. Only single isolated bones or teeth are left over. Even though Bolg was found in pieces, the parts of its skeleton that survived so many millions of years contain a treasure trove of information. 'That means more characteristics are available for us to assess and compared to similar-looking lizards,' said Woolley. 'Importantly, we can use those characteristics to understand this animal's evolutionary relationships and test hypotheses about where it fits on the lizard tree of life.' Paleontologist and co-author Randy Irmis from the University of Utah adds, 'Bolg is a great example of the importance of natural history museum collections. Although we knew the specimen was significant when it was discovered back in 2005, it took a specialist in lizard evolution like Hank to truly recognize its scientific importance, and take on the task of researching and scientifically describing this new species.' Woolley used Sindarin—the language Tolkien created for his elves—to craft the species epithet. 'Amon' means 'mound,' and 'dol' means 'head' in the Elvish language, referencing the mound-like osteoderms found on the skulls of Bolg and other monstersaurs. 'Bolg is a great sounding name. It's a goblin prince from The Hobbit, and I think of these lizards as goblin-like, especially looking at their skulls,' Woolley said in a statement. [ Related: Gila monster spit inspired a new way to detect rare pancreatic tumors. ] Some of the other fossils described in the study include well-armored skull bones. This indicates that the ancient, seasonally tropical forests that once covered present day southern Utah were home to at least three species of large, predatory lizards. This land was once part of a 'lost continent' called Laramidia. Laramidia formed about 99 million years ago, when an ancient shallow sea flooded central North America. The seaway split eastern and western portions of the continent for millions of years. 'Even though these lizards were large, their skeletons are quite rare, with most of their fossil record based on single bones and teeth,' said co-author Joe Sertich from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and Colorado State University. 'The exceptional record of big lizards from Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument may prove to be a normal part of dinosaur-dominated ecosystems from North America, filling key roles as smaller predators hunting down eggs and small animals in the forests of Laramidia.'
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Yahoo
County officials warn of possible fly infestation
Although no Texas cases had been reported as of Tuesday, Johnson County Commissioner Larry Woolley warned of a potential screwworm fly infestation in mid to late summer. In May, the U.S. Department of Agriculture suspended importations of cattle, horses and bison from Mexico into the U.S. to prevent New World screwworm movement north following detection in Veracruz, Mexico. 'A lot of people may not remember the last time one of these happened,' Woolley said during Monday's Johnson County Commissioners Court meeting. 'I was in high school. I remember it vividly. It's not a pretty site and it's not something to be taken lightly.' Commissioner Kenny Howell agreed. 'I remember that too,' Howell said. 'It was a huge problem.' Although the closest detection is still 700 miles away, the New World screwworm is of increasing concern across the southern U.S., as it can potentially cause losses in the livestock and wildlife-related industries if it moves across the Mexican border and reestablishes. The USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is working with Mexican officials to train personnel and expand surveillance and eradication efforts in Mexico to better address the movement of the fly northward. Should the New World screwworm enter the U.S., this fly is estimated to cause losses, conservatively, of $2.1 billion to cattle and $9 billion to the hunting/wildlife industry in Texas. Where the larvae of other flies feed on carcasses, the larvae of these flies feed on the live flesh of animals including people. 'All it takes is a cut or a drop of blood to attract them,' Woolley said. 'They are flesh-eating larvae called screwworms.' The larvae of the New World Screwworm flies burrow into the flesh of warm-blooded animals resulting in damage, possible secondary infections and potentially death, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 'The control method then and now is the distribution of sterile male flies into the population, and that's something they're working on now,' Woolley said. Typical insecticide use on the New World screwworm is not as effective as with other insect pests due to its wide host range and occurrence on wildlife. Eradication is the best way to control screwworms. However, control/removal of the fly when found on hosts is critical to reducing the local population so that the sterile fly program succeeds more quickly and reduces animal suffering. The New World screwworm is incapable of overwintering in regions that experience low temperatures or extended dry periods — they don't do well below 45 degrees and certainly die if frozen, however, the larvae can burrow about 6 inches into the soil, changing the temperatures that they experience. This fly poses a serious threat to livestock and wildlife because it deposits eggs into the wounds of living animals, thereby leading to larval infestations. Because they can host on any living mammal, they can also affect pets and humans. This metallic green-blue fly with large orange eyes is about twice the size of a common house fly. New World screwworms do not bite animals; their damage comes from laying eggs in the open wounds of living, warm-blooded animals — though rarely birds. The immature fly larvae, or maggots, feed on the living tissues of hosts, burrowing into the animal's tissue, causing tremendous damage and often resulting in the host's death. Historically, ranchers have altered breeding dates to avoid birthing during the fly season. Common livestock management practices and events, such as castration, dehorning, branding and birthing in all animals and antler velvet shedding in deer, often resulted in infestations. Infestations can occur at the site of any recent wound, like a scrape, lesion or even a tick-feeding site. Other wounds of common infestation include those from ear tagging or shearing, as well as mucous membranes and antler shedding in deer. Newborn mammals are prone to infestations at the healing umbilical cord site. If a wound on a living animal is found to have larvae in it, a veterinarian must be contacted. Find an accredited veterinarian or Texas Animal Health Commission, TAHC, region office. The veterinarian is mandated by law to collect and submit the larvae for identification to the USDA's National Veterinary Services Laboratory. Also, the animal should be immediately confined for wound care, and all larvae should be removed and placed into alcohol. After removing the larvae, treat the infestation with topical pesticides labeled for use on the animal to kill any larvae that may not have been removed and reduce the likelihood of re-infestation. The wound should be monitored until it fully heals. When dealing with livestock, all other animals in the herd should be checked for wounds and larvae. Anyone who finds fly larvae infesting a living animal, called myiasis, must report this to a state veterinarian. The protocol for reporting can be found on the Texas Animal Health Commission website or at the USDA-APHIS website. An informational webinar on the topic is available at and as a link through the county's website. 'I encourage people to watch that to be educated on the possible problems this may pose,' Woolley said. 'It can affect livestock, pets, people.'
