It has been suggested that lizards have existed for 35 million years.
The Natural History Museum's storage cupboard held the remains of a reptile that had been fossilised.
The reptile is related to lizards.
The fossil is likely to become one of the most important found in the last few decades according to Dr. David Whiteside.
The lizards lived in the Late Triassic period, which is about 200 million years ago.
Estimates of the origin of lizards and snakes are affected by the fossil's impact.
It was found in a collection of items from the 1950s.
The team named it after its jaws, which are filled with sharp-edged slicing teeth.
The specimen was found in a cupboard full of fossils.
He said that this was a close relative of the New Zealand tuatara that was the only survivor of the group.
We were more and more convinced that the specimen was related to modern day lizards than the Tuatara group.
The X-rays allowed the team to see the tiny bones in the rock.
They said that it was a squamate because it differed from Rhynchocephalia in a number of areas.
"This is a very special fossil and likely to become one of the most important found in the last few decades," said Dr. Whiteside.
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