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Varanus exanthematicus (BOSC, 1792)

IUCN Red List - Varanus exanthematicus - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaVaranidae, Platynota, Varanoidea, Anguimorpha, Sauria, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Savannah Monitor
G: Steppenwaran 
SynonymLacerta exanthematica BOSC 1792: 25
Varanus exanthematicus MERREM 1820: 60
Varanus ocellatus HEYDEN in RÜPPELL 1830: 21 (fide MERTENS 1963: 7)
Varanus ocellatus — DUMÉRIL & BIBRON 1836: 496
Monitor exanthematicus — SCHLEGEL 1839: 70
Varanus ocellatus — BOULENGER 1885: 308
Varanus occellatus — TORNIER 1897: 38
Varanus ocellatus — LOVERIDGE 1936: 59
Varanus exanthematicus — BOULENGER 1885: 308
Varanus exanthematicus — SCHMIDT 1919: 480
Varanus ocellatus — WERNER 1919: 485
Varanus exanthematicus ocellatus — MERTENS 1938
Varanus (Empagusia) exanthematicus — MERTENS 1942
Varanus exanthematicus — DE LISLE 1996: 123
Varanus (Polydaedalus) exanthematicus — BÖHME 2002
Varanus exanthematicus — TRAPE, CHIRIO & TRAPE 2012
Varanus (Polydaedalus) exanthematicus — BUCKLITSCH et al. 2016: 50
Varanus exanthematics — MUSAH et al. 2019 (in error) 
DistributionMauritania, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea (Conakry), Sierra Leone, Liberia, Mali, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Sudan (Jumhūriyyat), Republic of South Sudan (RSS), Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Uganda, N Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire), Zimbabwe

USA (introduced to Florida)

Type locality: "ad fluvium Senegal" = Senegal River.  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: lost fide de LISLE 2009: 17; supposedly in MNHN but not located and perhaps never given to MNHN collections (I. Ineich, pers. comm., March 2019). 
DiagnosisAdditional details, e.g. a detailed description or comparisons (1477 characters), are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. 
CommentHunted as food by local people in Mali (Joger & Lambert 1996).

Distribution: possibly introduced to Mexico (Jalisco); For a detailed distrubtion map and locality data see BAYLESS (2002). 
References
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  • Bayless, M.K. 1994. Zur Fortpflanzungsbiologie des Steppenwarans (Varanus exanthematicus). Salamandra 30 (2): 109-118 - get paper here
  • Bayless, Mark K. 2002. Monitor lizards: a pan-African check-list of their zoogeography (Sauria: Varanidae: Polydaedalus). Journal of Biogeography 29: 1643–1701 - get paper here
  • Behangana, Mathias; Richard Magala, Raymond Katumba, David Ochanda, Stephen Kigoolo, Samuel Mutebi, Daniele Dendi,, Luca Luiselli, and Daniel F. Hughes 2020. Herpetofaunal diversity and community structure in the Murchison Falls-Albert Delta Ramsar site, Uganda: Herpetofaunal diversity. European Journal of Ecology, 6(2)
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  • Böhme, Wolfgang, Mark-Oliver Rödel, Christian Brede & Philipp Wagner 2011. The reptiles (Testudines, Squamata, Crocodylia) of the forested southeast of the Republic Guinea (Guinée forestière), with a country-wide checklist. Bonn zoological Bulletin 60 (1): 35-61 - get paper here
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  • Chirio, L. 2009. Inventaire des reptiles de la région de la Réserve de Biosphère Transfrontalière du W (Niger/Bénin/Burkina Faso: Afrique de l’Ouest). [Herpetological survey of the W Transfrontier Biosphere Reserve area (Niger/Benin/Burkina Faso: West Africa]. Bull. Soc. Herp. France (132): 13-41 - get paper here
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  • Cupul-Magaña, Fabio Germán 2012. Varanus exanthematicus (Bosc, 1792), Apalone spinifera emoryi (Le Sueur, 1827) y Gopherus berlandieri (Agassiz, 1857): reptiles exóticos en el área urbana de Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, México. Cuadernos de Herpetología 26 (1): - get paper here
  • Don, M., A. Estany, A. Ramos, R. Leoni & A. Muchlinski 1994. Re-examination of the Afebrile Response in Two Lizard Species (Varanus exanthematicus and Gerrhosaurus major) Journal of Herpetology 28 (3): 385-388. - get paper here
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