Yale researchers have discovered a new lizard fossil at Dinosaur National Monument that they believe is the ancestor of modern day geckos. Yale News shares that the researchers have named the new species Helioscopus Dickersonae. “This discovery emerged from a larger investigation of two fossil lizard skulls from Dinosaur National Monument in Utah,” shares Dalton Meyer, a graduate student in Yale’s Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and co-author of their study. “It is one of the earliest known gecko relatives in the fossil record. This means that the gecko line made it to North America nearly 100 million years before the prior known earliest record.” The new species name was chosen in part to honor Meyer’s grandmother Helen Dickerson and Great Aunt Shirley Dickerson. “My great aunt passed away while I was in the early stages of working on this fossil,” explains Meyer. “I was truly honored to have a chance to get to use their family name in this new species, in part as a memorial that will now persist long after I am gone.” The researchers believe the new species looked similar to the modern day black banded gecko.
