Overview

• Fossil fragments unearthed in 2005 at Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and held at the Natural History Museum of Utah have been identified as a raccoon-sized monstersaurian lizard that lived about 77 million years ago.
• Researchers led by paleontologist Hank Woolley formally described Bolg amondol on June 17, 2025, in Royal Society Open Science after reexamining the mislabeled jarred specimen.
• The name Bolg amondol combines Tolkien’s goblin prince with Elvish words for “mound” and “head,” referencing the species’ distinctive skull osteoderms.
• Phylogenetic analysis places Bolg amondol alongside Gobiderma pulchrum from the Gobi Desert of Asia, indicating smaller vertebrates traversed ancient land bridges alongside dinosaurs.
• Ongoing discoveries in the Kaiparowits Formation highlight the critical role of museum collections and public land preservation in uncovering Late Cretaceous reptile diversity.