Gilmoreteius Gobi Reptile Fossil Skull
Lower Cretaceous of the Gobi Desert in Mongolia

This is the well-preserved skull of a lizard from the famous Bayan Mandahu location in the Gobi that was initially named Macrocephalosaurus by Charles Gilmore in 1943. Gilmore was a member of the famous Central Asiatic Expeditions to the Gobi that were led by Roy Chapman Andrews in the 1920's. The lizard family was named the Macrocephalosauridae (meaning 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.

Langer, M.C. 1998. Gilmoreteiidae new family and Gilmoreteius new genus (Squamata Scincomorpha): replacement names for Macrocephalosauridae Sulimski, 1975 and Macrocephalosaurus Gilmore, 1943.