Fossil found in drawer is found to be oldest known modern lizard

Specimen collected in 1950s pushes back origins of squamates by at least 34m years

The fossilised remains of a small, sharp-toothed lizard, left in a cupboard for more than half a century, have pushed back the origins of the group that encompasses modern snakes and lizards by tens of millions of years.

The specimen was collected in the 1950s from a quarry near Tortworth in Gloucestershire by the late fossil hunter Pamela L Robinson. But its true identity was not appreciated as the creature was erroneously labelled and stored, until recently when it was found in the Natural History Museum in London.