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Varanus gouldii (GRAY, 1838)

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Higher TaxaVaranidae, Platynota, Varanoidea, Anguimorpha, Sauria, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Sand Monitor, Gould's Goanna
G: Gouldswaran 
SynonymHydrosaurus gouldii GRAY 1838: 394
Monitor gouldii — SCHLEGEL 1839: 78
Varanus gouldii — DUMÉRIL & DUMÉRIL 1851: 52
Varanus gouldii — BOULENGER 1885: 320
Varanus gouldi — DE ROOIJ 1915: 149
Varanus (Varanus) gouldii — MERTENS 1942
Varanus gouldii gouldii — MERTENS 1958
Varanus gouldii flavirufus MERTENS 1958: 229
Varanus gouldii — STORR 1980: 263
Varanus panoptes STORR 1980: 273
Pantherosaurus barryjonesi WELLS & WELLINGTON 1985: 21
Varanus gouldii gouldii — BÖHME 1991: 38
Varanus flavirufus flavirufus — BÖHME 1991: 38
Varanus gouldii gouldii — DE LISLE 1996: 126
Varanus gouldii gouldii — COGGER 2000: 368
Varanus gouldii flavirufus — COGGER 2000: 368
Varanus gouldii flavirufus — BÖHME 2002
Varanus gouldii flavirufus — BÖHME 2003
Varanus flavirufus — DE LISLE 2009: 17
Varanus gouldii — WILSON & SWAN 2010
Varanus (Varanus) gouldii — BUCKLITSCH et al. 2016: 50 
DistributionAustralia (except arid interior, including Queensland, New South Wales), S Papua New Guinea

Type locality: "Australia", restricted by Opinion 1948 of the International Commission of Zool. Nomenclature (2000), due to the designation of a neotype, to Karakatta, Perth, Western Australia.

flavirufus: Central Australia in the area of the red soils; westwards to the Canning Stock Route (Western Australia); Type locality: Bat Caves near Alice Springs, Northern Territory.  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesNeotype: BMNH 1997.1 (designated by the Comission of Zoological Nomenclature in March 2000, Opinion 1948, formerly formerly WAM R131792), from Karrakatta, Perth, Western Australia; see comment. Lectotype: BMNH 1946.9.7.61, NW coast of Australia, designated by Mertens (1958); rejected by the ICZN, 2000 [Opinion 1948], and replaced by a neotype.
Holotype: SMF 53271 [flavirufus] 
DiagnosisDiagnosis: A large ground monitor (up to 160 cm long) with strongly compressed tail. Distinguishable from V. p. panoptes and V. rosenbergi by yellowish end of tail, from V. p. rubidus by absence of dark spots on back, and from V. giganteus by pale-edged dark temporal stripe and spotted rather than reticulated lower surfaces. (Storr 1980)


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CommentSubspecies: Varanus gouldii rubidus is listed here as a subspecies of V. panoptes following COGGER 2000. Varanus gouldii horni BÖHME 1988 is not listed by COGGER 2000.

Types: The lectotype of V. gouldii has been a specimen of V. panoptes, formally rendering the name panoptes a junior synonym of gouldii. Sprackland et al. (1997) proposed that the lectotype of gouldii be set aside and a neotype designated in accord with accustomed usage. The International Commission of Zoological Nomenclature (2000: Opinion 1948) accepted an application to set aside the lectotype and to replace it by a neotype fitting with what was understood to be V. gouldii before.

Illustration in Schmida (2000) and Bennet (2003).

Synonymy: partly after SHEA & SADLIER 1999.

Similar species: V. tristis. 
EtymologyNamed after John Gould (1804-1881), British ornithologist, artist, and taxidermist. 
References
  • Barbour, T. 1943. Defence posture of Varanus gouldii Copeia 1943 (1): 56. - get paper here
  • Bennet, D.F. 2003. Der Varanus-gouldii-Komplex. Reptilia (Münster) 8 (43): 26-28 - get paper here
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  • Bennet, D.F. 2003. The Varanus gouldii group. Reptilia (GB) (30): 27-29 - get paper here
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  • Böhme, W. 1988. Der Arguswaran (Varanus panoptes, Storr 1980) auf Neuguinea: Varanus panoptes horni spp. n. Salamandra 24 (2-3): 87-101 - get paper here
  • Böhme, W. 1991. The identity of Varanus gouldii (Gray, 1838), and the nomenclature of the V. gouldii species complex. Mertensiella, 2, 38-41.
  • Böhme,W. 2003. Checklist of the living monitor lizards of the world (family Varanidae). Zoologische Verhandelingen 341: 6-43 - get paper here
  • Böhme,W. & T. ZIEGLER 1998. Comments on the proposed conservation of the names Hydrosaurus gouldii Gray, 1838 and Varanus panoptes STORR, 1980 (Reptilia, Squamata) by the designation of a neotype for Hydrosaurus gouldii (Case 3042; see BZN 54: 95-99, 249-250; 55: 106-111). Bull. Zool. Nomenclature 55 (3): 173-174. - get paper here
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  • Hoser, Raymond T. 1998. Comment on the proposed alterations to usage of the name Varanus gouldii, resurrection of the junior synonym Varanus panoptes and proposed suppression of Varanus flavirufus. Bull. Zool. Nomenclature 55: 111-114 - get paper here
  • Iannucci, Alessio; Marie Altmanová, Claudio Ciofi, Malcolm Ferguson-Smith, Massimo Milan, Jorge Claudio Pereira, James Pether, Ivan Rehák, Michail Rovatsos, Roscoe Stanyon, Petr Velenský, Petr Ráb, Lukáš Kratochvíl & Martina Johnson Pokorná 2019. Conserved sex chromosomes and karyotype evolution in monitor lizards (Varanidae). Heredity 123, 215–227 - get paper here
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