The Collaborative International Dictionary
Gila monster \Gi"la mon"ster\ (Zo["o]l.) 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.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
Heloderma suspectum, 1877, American English, from Gila River, which runs through its habitat in Arizona. The river name probably is from an Indian language, but it is unknown now which one, or what the word meant in it.
Wikipedia
The Gila monster (Heloderma suspectum, ) is a species of venomous lizard native to the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexican state of Sonora. A heavy, slow-moving lizard, up to long, the Gila monster is the only venomous lizard native to the United States and one of only two known species of venomous lizards in North America, the other being its close relative, the Mexican beaded lizard (H. horridum). Though the Gila monster is venomous, its sluggish nature means it represents little threat to humans. However, it has earned a fearsome reputation and is sometimes killed despite being protected by state law in Arizona.
Usage examples of "gila monster".
The peccary, Gila monster, tarantula, centipede, scorpion and horned toad are specimens of its strange animal life.
On this trip he was not looking for a mere forty-foot Gila monster.
On the ground not even a horned frog or a Gila monster showed under the withering sun.
He might have seen a giant Gila Monster once, but he couldn't be sure.
There was a photo of a gila monster with black and white patterns on its back.
Bud went after them found them 4 miles away where we killed the Gila monster.
If you added that he himself was a desert creature, like the gila monster and the rattlesnake, he would have grown bored and classified you as a fool.
A Gila monster had obviously eaten most of one side of it to shreds.
It had one source of income: a factory that manufactured stuffed souvenir armadillos, armadillo purses and Gila monster wallets, then sold them to tourists blowing through on the highway.