Varanus cumingi MARTIN, 1839
Can you confirm these amateur observations of Varanus cumingi?
Varanus cumingi
Find more photos by Google images search: 
| Higher Taxa | Varanidae, Platynota, Varanoidea, Anguimorpha, Sauria, Squamata (lizards) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Cuming’s water monitor |
| Synonym | Varanus cumingi MARTIN 1839 Varanus cumingii — BOULENGER 1885: 316 Varanus salvator cumingi — MERTENS 1942 Varanus salvator cumingi — BÖHME 2002 Varanus salvator cumingi — GAULKE & HORN in PIANKA & KING 2004: 261 Varanus cumingi — KOCH et al. 2007 Varanus (Soterosaurus) cumingi — KOCH et al. 2010 Varanus (Soterosaurus) cumingi — BUCKLITSCH et al. 2016: 50 |
| Distribution | Philippines (Mindanao, Camiguin Sur etc.) Type locality: Mindanao, Philippines. |
| Reproduction | oviparous |
| Types | Lectotype: BMNH 1946.8.31.5 (dried skin), adult. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: As a conspicuous member of the V. salvator complex, V. cumingi can be identified by two main features: (1) the intensive yellow colour pattern of head and body in combination with the black background colour and (2) the possession of enlarged occipital scales around the pineal organ (character P: 47-57, x = 49.92, s = 2.99). Further diagnostic scalation characters are (3) enlarged dorsal scales (parameters X, Y, and XY; see Tab. 7) and (4) low scale counts around the tail at one third of the tail length (character R: 44-55, x = 49.25, s = 3.44). Additional characteristics of the colour pattern of V. cumingi are (5) black ocelli on the ventral side of the tail, (6) a black streak extending from the eye to the upper margin of the tympanum, (7) usually a unicoloured yellow chin without dark bars or crossbands, and (8) 8 to 15 dark crossbands on the belly. Unfortunately we had to temporarily remove additional information as this was scraped by multiple AI companies who sell that data to their customers. These details, e.g. detailed descriptions or comparisons (about 1688 characters) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. |
| Comment | According to the timetree in Fig. S3 of Brennan et al. (2020), several taxa within the V. salvator group are distinctly younger than 1 million years, such as cumingi, marmoratus, palawanensis, and samarensis, hence they may be better considered as subspecies of V. salvator (Ziegler & Vences 2020). |
| Etymology | V. cumingi has been named after the collector of the type, “Mr. H. Cuming”. The subspecific epithet samarensis refers to the type locality Samar Islands, Philippines. |
| References |
|
| External links |