12 February 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

Paleontologists discovered Super-sized fossil skink

According to newly discovered fossils, a giant skink with spiky armor and powerful jaws roamed New South Wales until about 50,000 years ago.

A fossil lizard discovered by researchers at Flinders University has been described as by far the largest and most bizarre skink that ever lived.

In 2009 and 2013, scientists described two mysterious fossils – part of a jaw and skull – found in Wellington caves in New South Wales. They looked like they belonged to skinks – a type of lizard – but were unusually large.

Now, a more recent excavation at the same site has unearthed dozens of similar fossils. An analysis led by Kailah Thorn at the Western Australian Museum in Perth has revealed that they all belong to the same extinct species – a skink called Tiliqua frangens – that was about 1000 times heavier than typical skinks alive today.

Its official name is Tiliqua frangens, or Frangens for short. But its bulky body and serious spiky armor mean it already has a range of colorful nicknames including Mega Chonk and Chonkasaurus.

Dr Kailah Thorn said she hoped people would have some fun with the discovery.

Sleepy lizards have been studied for more than 30 years by Flinders University scientists. Photo: Mike Gardner, Flinders University.
Sleepy lizards have been studied for more than 30 years by Flinders University scientists. Photo: Mike Gardner, Flinders University.

“There’s a bit of a meme trend around large ‘chonky’ animals with phrases like ‘oh lawd, he/she comin’ ’ associated with their arrival,” she said. “I’m keen to see what kind of memes come out when this animal is released on the world.

The lizard lived during the Pleistocene, alongside famous megafauna such as marsupial lions, diprotodons, and short-faced kangaroos, the researchers say.

“It reveals that even small creatures were supersized during the Pleistocene.”

The shape of its teeth suggests that, like modern-day shingle backs, it mostly ate plants. It may have needed strong jaws because it “ate something tough, like tough plant fibre or maybe a tough fruit or nut that dried out in summer”, Thorn says.

The giant skink’s closest living relative is Tiliqua rugosa, also known as the shingleback skink, which is found in dry, inland areas of New South Wales and other parts of southern Australia.

By comparing the two species’ body measurements, Thorn and her colleagues estimated that the extinct skink would have weighed about 2.3 kilograms. Most living skinks only weigh about 2 grams, with the heaviest, the shingle back, reaching 1 kilogram.

Read more in The Conversation: Meet the biggest and most bizarre skink ever found in Australia. It became extinct 47,000 years ago.

Cover Photo: The giant extinct skink Tiliqua frangens (Frangens for short) was 1000x the size of a typical garden skink (front right). Image by Katrina Kenny CC BY-NC-ND

Related Articles

Neanderthal Footprints Discovered On the Beach of Matalascañas (Huelva)

4 May 2021

4 May 2021

A stroll along the beach of Matalascanas (Huelva) in June of last year unearthed a spectacular scenario that occurred in...

3,000-Year-Old Twisted Gold Torc Discovered in Essex, southeast England

16 July 2023

16 July 2023

A metal detectorist has discovered a 3,000-year-old part of a twisted gold torc in a field near Mistley, on the...

A 2,000-year-old ancient “mirror” throws light on aristocratic life in China

17 May 2022

17 May 2022

Archeologists in Beijing have successfully reconstructed a 2,000-year-ago dressing mirror once cherished by the high nobility during the Han Dynasty....

A pendant with a figure of St. Nicholas found in the Ancient Church Hidden in Turkish Lake

7 October 2022

7 October 2022

Underwater archaeological excavations and research, which were started 8 years ago in the basilica located 20 meters off the lake...

At Ostrowite, archaeologists have discovered a high-status burial dating back almost a thousand years

2 January 2022

2 January 2022

Archaeologists have discovered a burial chamber in Ostrowite, in Poland’s Pomeranian Voivodeship, containing several high-status grave goods from the 11th...

A new study in Portugal suggests that mummification in Europe may be older than previously thought

3 March 2022

3 March 2022

New research on the hunter-gatherer burial sites in the Sado Valley in Portugal, dating to 8,000 years ago, suggests that...

Lost sketches by Leonardo Da Vinci show that he understood gravity long before Newton

19 February 2023

19 February 2023

Leonardo da Vinci’s centuries-old sketches show that he may have understood key aspects of gravity long before Galileo, Newton, and...

2500-year-old ship graffiti sheds light on the history of Izmir in western Turkey

9 March 2022

9 March 2022

In the Smyrna Agora, which is one of the largest ancient agora in the city center of the world and...

Archeologists find a 3,500-year-old mosaic in central Turkey

16 September 2021

16 September 2021

Archaeologists have discovered a 3,500-year-old mosaic in central Turkey, which might be one of the world’s oldest. The impressive power...

Archaeologists discover a new megalithic monument in heart of Andalusia in southern Spain – 5,000-year-old secret

5 May 2023

5 May 2023

Archaeologists in Spain uncovered a previously overlooked tomb while investigating the formation of La Peña de los Enamorados, also known...

The Bronze Sacred Sanxingdui Tree Number 3 is Being Restored

9 April 2021

9 April 2021

According to the announcement of the Sanxingdui Museum, archaeologists have begun to assemble and restore the No. 3 bronze sacred...

Severed right hands reveal Trophy-Taking practices in Ancient Egypt

2 April 2023

2 April 2023

Twelve severed hands were found in Egypt as part of a horrifying “trophy-taking” practice that was just made revealed by...

High-status Macedonian tomb discovered in ancient Aegae, Central Macedonia

2 April 2024

2 April 2024

In the ancient city of Aegae (present-day Vergina) in Imathia, Central Macedonia, during the construction of the sewerage network, tomb...

Scandinavia’s Oldest Identified Ship Burial in Trøndelag “Rewrites History”

14 November 2023

14 November 2023

In Leka, a municipality in Norway’s Trøndelag county, archaeologists have uncovered Scandinavia’s oldest identified ship burial, dating back to around...

During the demolition work, a 2,500-year-old bull heads alto relievo was discovered in Sinop

20 April 2022

20 April 2022

During the demolition work of the buildings in front of the historical city walls for the City Square National Garden...