Mexican beaded lizard generic name "Heloderma" means "studded skin", from the Ancient Greek words "hêlos" (ἧλος)—the head of a nail or stud—and "dérma" (δέρμα), meaning skin. Its specific name, "horrĭdum", is the Latin word meaning rough or rude. The four subspecies of beaded lizard, elevated to full species in 2013, are: Adult beaded lizards range from in length. They are substantially larger than the Gila monster, which only reaches lengths of . The snout-to-vent length of a beaded lizard averages . The average body mass of an adult beaded lizard is , about 45% heavier than the average mass of a gila monster,
The Lizard du Maurier based many novels on this part of Cornwall, including "Frenchman's Creek". The Lizard was featured on the BBC television programme "Seven Natural Wonders" as one of the wonders of the South West, and on the BBC series "Coast". In James Clavell's novel "Shōgun", ship's pilot Vasco Rodrigues challenges John Blackthorne to recite the latitude of the Lizard to verify that Blackthorne is a fellow seaman. The Jennifer McQuiston 2015 novel "The Spinster's Guide to Scandalous Behavior" is set primarily in the fictional village Lizard Bay on the Lizard in the mid-nineteenth century. In the television adaptation of "Horatio