A large tuberculated lizard (Heloderma suspectum) native of the dry plains of Arizona, New Mexico, etc. It is the only lizard known to have venomous teeth.

A desert-dwelling large orange and black venomous lizard. Note that gila monsters do not live east of the Rockies (Texas, for example). They have a powerful bite and hold on tenaciously, The poison is in their saliva. They have enlarged, grooved teeth in their lower jaw by which the poison enters the victim. About the only way a person can be bitten is to stick their hand into a hole where a gila monster is hiding. (named for the Gila River in Arizona [1877])

large orange and black lizard of southwestern United States; not dangerous unless molested