Name: Lacertilia, Gilmoreteiidae, Gilmoreteius sp.
Age: Upper Cretaceous (~83 m.y.a.)
Size (25.4 mm = 1 inch): 78 mm long, 55 mm high, 28 mm wide across back of skull
Location: Bayan Mandahu, Gobi Desert of Nei Mongol (Inner Mongolia)
 Description:
This is the well-preserved skull of a lizard from the famous Bayan
Mandahu location in the Gobi which was initially named Macrocephalosaurus
by Charles Gilmore in 1943. Gilmore was a member of the famous Central
Asiatic Expeditions to the gobi led by Roy Chapman Andrews in the
1920's. The family was named the Macrocephalosauridae (large headed),
but this name was subsequently found to be preoccupied. As a consequence,
the Family was renamed Gilmoretiidae, and the genus Gilmoreteius by
Langer in 1998 so as to honor the efforts of Gilmore who carried out
an extensive study of fossil lizards from the Gobi. |
