Monitor lizard
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| Missing image Goanna.jpg An Australian lace monitor (Varanus varius) on a tree. | ||||||||||||||
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Many, see text. |
Nile_Monitor.JPG
Monitor lizards are the family Varanidae, a group of lizards which includes the largest living lizard, the Komodo Dragon. Varanidae contains only a single genus: Varanus.
In Australia monitor lizards are known as goannas (See main article).
Evolutionary Overview
Monitor lizards are considered to be the most highly developed lizards, possessing a rapid metabolism (for reptiles), several sensory adaptations that benefit the hunting of live prey, and a lower jaw that may be unhinged to facilitate eating large prey animals. The latter adaptation reveals the other relatives of the monitor lizards: snakes (Serpentes) are believed to have evolved from a sister group to the Varanidae.
Origin of Name
It has been said that the name of monitor lizards is derived from a superstition that the creatures would give a warning about the presence of crocodiles. However, this explanation may be apocryphal. According to Wildwatch, the name actually resulted from a mishearing of the Arabic word oaran (lizard) as the German warnen (to warn), which was subsequently Latinized into monitor.
Classification
Genus Varanus
- Varanus acanthurus: Spiny-tailed goanna or Ridge-tailed monitor
- Varanus albigularis: White-throated monitor
- Varanus auffenbergi Peacock monitor
- Varanus baritji Northern ridge-tailed goanna
- Varanus beccarii Black tree monitor
- Varanus bengalensis Bengal monitor
- Varanus bogerti Louisiade tree monitor
- Varanus brevicauda Short-tailed monitor
- Varanus caerulivirens Blue pin-spot monitor
- Varanus caudolineatus Stripe-tailed goanna
- Varanus cerambonensis Ceram mangrove monitor
- Varanus doreanus Blue-tailed monitor
- Varanus dumerilii Rough-necked monitor
- Varanus eremius Desert pygmy monitor
- Varanus exanthematicus: Savannah monitor
- Varanus finschi Finsch's monitor
- Varanus flavescens: Yellow mangrove monitor
- Varanus giganteus: the Perentie
- Varanus gilleni Pygmy mulga goanna
- Varanus glauerti Kimberley rock monitor
- Varanus glebopalma Black-palmed rock monitor
- Varanus gouldii Sand goanna (also Gould's goanna, or Ground goanna)
- Varanus griseus Desert monitor
- Varanus indicus Mangrove monitor
- Varanus jobiensis Peach-throat monitor
- Varanus juxtindicus Hakoi
- Varanus keithhornei Canopy goanna
- Varanus kingorum King's goanna
- Varanus komodoensis: Komodo dragon
- Varanus mabitang Panay monitor
- Varanus macraei Blue tree monitor
- Varanus melinus Quince monitor
- Varanus mertensi: Mertens' water monitor
- Varanus mitchelli Mitchell's water monitor
- Varanus nebulosus Clouded monitor
- Varanus niloticus: Nile monitor
- Varanus olivaceus Gray's monitor, Butaan
- Varanus ornatus Ornate monitor
- Varanus panoptes Argus monitor, Yellow-spotted goanna, Floodplain goanna
- Varanus pilbarensis Pilbara rock monitor
- Varanus prasinus: Emerald tree monitor
- Varanus primordius Blunt-spined goanna
- Varanus rosenbergi Rosenberg's goanna
- Varanus rudicollis: Roughneck monitor
- Varanus salvadorii: Crocodile monitor, Artrelia
- Varanus salvator: Water monitor
- Varanus scalaris Spotted tree goanna
- Varanus semiremex Mangrove pygmy goanna
- Varanus spenceri Spencer's goanna
- Varanus spinulosus St. Isabel mangrove monitor
- Varanus storri Storr's goanna
- Varanus telenesetes Lia (Biri), Rossel Island tree monitor
- Varanus timorensis: Timor tree monitor or Timor monitor
- Varanus tristis Black-headed tree goanna
- Varanus varius: Lace goanna
- Varanus yemenensis Yemen monitor
- Varanus yuwonoi Tricolor monitor