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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
  • Akeret, B. 2010. Sukkulenten und andere Pflanzen für das Trockenterrarium. Draco 11 (41): 44-53 - get paper here
  • Akeret, Beat 2014. Geschichtliches zur Haltung von Waranen in Deutschland und der Schweiz. Terraria-Elaphe 2014 (6): 14-21 - get paper here
  • Barnett, Linda K. 2001. The herpetofauna of Abuko Nature Reserve, the Gambia. Herpetological Bulletin (77): 5-1 - get paper here
  • Barnett, Linda K. & Emms, Craig 2005. Common reptiles of The Gambia. Rare Repro, Hailsham, East Sussex, 24 pp.
  • 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)
  • Bennett, Daniel 1992. Bosc's monitor lizard. Reptilian 1 (2): 25-27
  • Bennett,Daniel 2000. The density and abundance of juvenile Varanus exanthematicus (Sauria: Varandiae) in the coastal plain of Ghana. Amphibia-Reptilia 21 (3): 301-306 - get paper here
  • 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
  • Böhme,W. 2003. Checklist of the living monitor lizards of the world (family Varanidae). Zoologische Verhandelingen 341: 6-43 - get paper here
  • Bonetti, Mathilde 2002. 100 Sauri. Mondadori (Milano), 192 pp. - get paper here
  • Bosc, L. 1792. Lacerta exanthematica. Act. Soc. Hist. Nat. (Paris) 1: 25 - get paper here
  • Boulenger, G.A. 1885. Catalogue of the lizards in the British Museum (Natural History). Vol. 2, Second edition. London, xiii+497 pp. - get paper here
  • Branch, W. R. 1982. Hemipeneal Morphology of Platynotan Lizards. Journal of Herpetology 16 (1): 16-38 - get paper here
  • Branch, W. R. 1988. Life History Note: Varanus exanthematicus albigularis: Reproduction. J. Herp. Assoc. Africa (35): 39-39 - get paper here
  • Broadley, D.G. 1962. On some reptile collections from the North-Western and North-Eastern Districts of Southern Rhodesia 1958-1961, with descriptions of four new lizards. Occ. Pap. Nat. Mus. South. Rhodesia 26 (B): 787-843
  • Broadley, D.G. 1998. The reptilian fauna of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Congo-Kinshasa). In: Schmidt, K.P. and Noble, G.K., Contributions to the Herpetology of the Belgian Congo... [reprint of the 1919 and 1923 papers]. SSAR Facsimile reprints in Herpetology, 780 pp.
  • Brygoo, E. R. 1987. Les types de Varanides (Reptiles, Sauriens) du Museum national d'Histoire naturelle. Catalogue critique. Bulletin du Museum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris, 4e ser., 9, sect. A (Zool., BioI. & Ecol. anim.), (2), supplement, 21-38.
  • BUCKLITSCH, YANNICK; WOLFGANG BÖHME, ANDRÉ KOCH 2016. Scale Morphology and Micro-Structure of Monitor Lizards (Squamata: Varanidae: Varanus spp.) and their Allies: Implications for Systematics, Ecology, and Conservation. . Zootaxa 4153 (1): 001–192 - get paper here
  • 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
  • Chirio, L. & Lebreton, M. 2007. Atlas des reptiles du Cameroun. MNHN, IRD, Paris 688 pp.
  • Coiro, J. 2007. Captive Breeding of Varanus exanthematicus. Biawak 1 (1): 29-33 - get paper here
  • Cooper, W.E., Jr. & J.J. Habegger 2001. Responses by Juvenile Monitor Lizards (Varanus exanthematicus) to Chemical Cues from Animal Prey, Plants Palatable to Herbivores, and Conspecifics Journal of Herpetology 35 (4): 618-624. - get paper here
  • 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
  • Earley, Ryan L.; Omar Attum, Perri Eason 2002. Varanid combat: perspectives from game theory. Amphibia-Reptilia 23 (4): 469-485 - get paper here
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  • 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
  • JACOBSEN, N.H.G. 2009. A contribution to the herpetofauna of the Passendro Area, Central African Republic. African Herp News (47): 2-20 - get paper here
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  • Laurent,R.F. 1964. A new subspecies of Varanus exanthematicus (Sauria, Varanidae). Breviora (199): 1-5 - get paper here
  • Leaché, Adam D.; Mark-Oliver Rödel, Charles W. Linkem, Raul E. Diaz, Annika Hillers, and Matthew K. Fujita 2006. Biodiversity in a forest island: reptiles and amphibians of the Togo Hills, Kyabobo National Park, Ghana. Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 4 (1): 22-45 - get paper here
  • Lisle, H.F. de 1996. Natural History of Monitor Lizards. Krieger, Malabar (Florida)
  • Loveridge, A. 1923. Notes on East African lizards collected 1920-1923 with the description of two new races of Agama lionotus Blgr. Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1923: 935-969 - get paper here
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