Ionides Black Throated Monitor, Varanus albigularis ionidesi Laurent, 1964. The systematics of this lizard are problematic. It is poorly known, presumably its distribution is restricted to Tanzania. The animal in the photo is a juvenile that is in the pet trade. It has also been considered a race of Varanus exanthematicus.
White's Goanna, Varanus baritji King and Horner, 1987. Photograph of a captive in Northern Territory, Australia. Bartji is an aboriginal word for white and the lizard is named after its discoverer Dr Neville White. White's Goanna is a small, spiny-tailed monitor known only from the northern portion of the Northern Territory. It inhabits areas of rocky outcrops and has been collected under both limestone and granite. One female laid 3 eggs in early June. Maximum known total length is 720 mm.
The Bengal Monitor, Varanus bengalensis Daudin, 1803. Photographed in south central Sri Lanka. Bengal Monitors range from eastern Iran, Afghanistan and western Pakistan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Burma. Adults may reach 1.6 m, but there are population differences in body size from different parts of the range. A Bengal monitor subspecies is found from southern parts of Burma and Vietnam, throughout Kampuchea and Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Java and the Sunda Islands, it is some times called the Clouded Monitor, and it seems probable it is a distinct species. Bengal Monitors use a variety of habitats from deserts to rainforests, but they seem to reach the greatest abundance in agroecosystems, and dry, open forests. Food includes the occasional vertebrate, but apparently this medium sized lizard gets much of its energy from tiny invertebrates, such as ants and snails. Females may lay clutches of up to 30 eggs, and they may lay 2 or 3 clutches in some years.
Savanna Monitor Lizard, Varanus exanthematicus Bosc, 1792. This is a young animal in the pet trade. It is known from the following countries in Africa: Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Mali, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Uganda, N Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire). Maximum adult size is about one meter. his species is readily available in the pet trade. Juveniles are collected from several countries in West Africa (mainly Ghana, Togo, Benin and Nigeria) and exported for the pet trade. Animals sold as captive bred, captive farmed or ranched are the offspring of gravid females collected during the breeding season whose eggs are incubated by exporters. Adults frequently become unwanted pets and are reported as being the most common monitor lizards by animal rescue agencies. However the vast majority die within a year of capture and captive breeding is very rare. The skins of the species are important in the international leather trade and originate mainly from Chad, Mali and Sudan.
The Mangrove Monitor Lizard, ?Varanus indicus DAUDIN, 1802. This is a species complex and the origin of the specimen is unknown. It ranges from Australia (North Territory and Queensland); the Indonesian islands of: Sulawesi, the Moluccas, Aru Islands, Talaud, Irian Jaya, Timor; and the Solomon Islands; Papua New Guinea; Bismarck Archipelago; Caroline Islands; Mariana Islands; and the Marshall Islands. Ast (2001, Cladistics 17(3):211-226) suggests that this species is the sister to a clade of Indo-Asian monitors.
Komodo Dragons, Varanus komodoensis Ouwens, 1912. A huge monitor lizard found on a few Indonesian Islands. Photographed at the Singapore Zoo.
Ornate Nile Monitor, Varanus ornatus Daudin, 1803. It inhabits Guinea, Togo, Benin, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea Bissau, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cameroon, Gabon, the Ivory Coast, and the Central African Republic. This animal was in the pet trade. The species is only found in lowland tropical forest near permanent water in western and central Africa. The Ornate Monitor feeds mostly on insects, crabs, centipedes, and small rodents. One study (Yeboah, 1993) shows, that the major diet of this species consists mainly on crickets (35%). Maximum length is about 1.8 m meters, slightly smaller than its close relative, the Nile Monitor.
The Green Tree Monitor, Varanus prasinus Schlegel, 1839
The Water Monitor, Varanus salvator (Laurenti, 1768). Photographed in Sri Lanka. Water Monitors have a huge distribution, ranging from India to Indonesia and eastward to the Philippines. It often occurs in coastal areas using mangrove forests as well as agroecosystems such as shrimp and fish aquiculture areas. In elevation, it occurs from sea level to more than 1000 m above sea level and uses streams, river and lake shorelines. Adults may exceed 2 m in total length. They seem to feed on almost everything and anything that is organic. Juveniles may be more insectivorous than adults. Humans are major predators of this large lizard and they are hunted for both meat and skins. Females may lay clutches of up to 40 eggs, and may produce more than one clutch per season. Males seem to hatch in larger numbers than females in this species. The bottom two images were taken in Bangkok, Thailand.
Varanus komodoensis has curved, serrated teeth (left), but the teeth of V. salvator are neither recurved or serrated (right). Auffenberg (1981, The Behavioral Ecology of the Komodo Monitor, p. 26) describes komodoensis teeth as “…serrated. compressed laterally, curved posteriorly, and have a sharp tip and a broad base…” Below, is a maxillary tooth from Varanus komodoensis (left) and a maxillary tooth from a Varanus salvator (right). The photos are relatively low resolution but the characteristics and shape are evident. Magnification is about 40x and they were taken with a Scalar Digital Microscope of skeletal material at FMNH.
