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Varanus scalaris MERTENS, 1941

IUCN Red List - Varanus scalaris - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaVaranidae, Platynota, Varanoidea, Anguimorpha, Sauria, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies 
Common Names 
SynonymVaranus timorensis scalaris MERTENS 1941: 266
Varanus timorensis scalaris — STORR 1980: 285
Varanus scalaris — STORR 1983: 106
Varanus timorensis — COGGER 1983
Odatria kuranda WELLS & WELLINGTON 1985: 21
Odatria pengilleyi WELLS & WELLINGTON 1985: 21
Varanus scalaris — DE LISLE 1996: 137
Varanus scalaris — COGGER 2000: 377
Varanus scalaris — WILSON & SWAN 2010
Varanus (Odatria) scalaris — HÖRENBERG & KOCH 2013
Varanus (Odatria) scalaris — BUCKLITSCH et al. 2016: 50 
DistributionN Australia (Western Australia, Queensland)

Type locality: Mission Beagle Bay, Dampier Land, NW Australia.

Type locality (kuranda): Kuranda, Queensland (16° 49'S X 145° 38'E).

Type locality (pengilleyi): 40 km E. of Pascoe River Crossing (on road to Iron Range), Cape York, Queensland (12° 44'S X 143° 10'E).  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: SMF 32806, Paratype: ZMB 30550
Holotype: AMS R94494, collected on 4 July, 1980 by Elizabeth Cameron, Des Beechey, Harold Cogger, S. von Sturmer et. al. [pengilleyi]
Holotype: AMS R68820, collected by Brian Lazell, on 24 December, 1970 [kuranda] 
DiagnosisDiagnosis: A medium-sized arboreal monitor (up to 59 cm long) with uncompressed tail, caudal scales strongly keeled and mucronate, and in males several rows of small narrow spinose white scales on lateroventral surface of tail immediately behind cloaca. Further distinguishable from V. tristis by shorter snout and deeper head (giving it a seal-like profile), sides of head and neck and often top of head spotted, shorter appendages, fewer midbody scale rows, and supraorbitals not so well differentiated from interorbitals. (Storr 1980)


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CommentSubspecies: Varanus scalaris similis has been elevated to full species status.

Distribution: Not in S New Guinea fide BÖHME (2003), and restricted to a relatively small area around the type locality (A. Koch, pers. comm., 17 Jan 2017).

Synonymy: following SHEA & SADLIER 1999: 64.

Photo: Biawak 5 (3): 54 (2011) 
EtymologyPresumably named after the Latin scalaris (of a ladder), in reference to the ladder-like pattern on the back of the type population. (G. Shea, pers. comm., 9 Feb 2024) 
References
  • Bennet, D.F. 2003. Australian Monitors. Reptilia (GB) (30): 12-19 - get paper here
  • Bennet, D.F. 2003. Australische Warane. Reptilia (Münster) 8 (43): 18-25 - get paper here
  • Berghof, H.-P. 2001. Die Pflege und Vermehrung des kleinen neuguineischen Baumwaranes Varanus (Odatria) similis MERTENS 1958. Herpetofauna 23 (135): 5-13 - 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
  • Branch, W. R. 1982. Hemipeneal Morphology of Platynotan Lizards. Journal of Herpetology 16 (1): 16-38 - get paper here
  • Bruse, F. & Werning, H. 2004. Futtertiere selber züchten - ein Problem? Reptilia (Münster) 9 (49): 20-26 - get paper here
  • Cogger, H. G. 2014. Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia, 7th ed. CSIRO Publishing, xxx + 1033 pp. - get paper here
  • Cogger, H.G. 2000. Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia, 6th ed. Ralph Curtis Publishing, Sanibel Island, 808 pp.
  • Eidenmüller, Bernd 2013. Von Darwin nach Alice Springs – der Warane wegen. Draco 13 (53): 55-61 - get paper here
  • FRÝDLOVÁ, PETRA and DANIEL FRYNTA 2010. A test of Rensch’s rule in varanid lizards. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 100: 293–306 - get paper here
  • Hörenberg, Thomas & André Koch 2013. Die Zwergwarane der Untergattung Odatria Gray, 1838. Draco 13 (53): 6-19 - 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
  • Lisle, H.F. de 1996. Natural History of Monitor Lizards. Krieger, Malabar (Florida)
  • Mertens, R. 1941. Zwei neue Warane des australischen Fauenengebietes. Senckenbergiana 23: 266-272
  • Pianka, E. R. and D. R. King, eds. 2004. Varanoid Lizards of the World. Indiana University Press, 599 pp - get paper here
  • Storr G M 1980. The monitor lizards (genus Varanus Merrem, 1820) of Western Australia. Rec. West. Aust. Mus. 8 (2): 237-293 - get paper here
  • Storr, SMITH & JOHNSTONE 1983. Lizards of Western Australia 2, Dragons and Monitors. p. 29, Pl. 5
  • Wilson, S. & Swan, G. 2010. A complete guide to reptiles of Australia, 3rd ed. Chatswood: New Holland, 558 pp.
 
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