Varanus giganteus (GRAY, 1845)

Find more photos by Google images search:

Higher Taxa	Varanidae, Platynota, Varanoidea, Anguimorpha, Sauria, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies
Common Names	E: Perentie
Synonym	Hydrosaurus giganteus GRAY 1845: 13 Varanus giganteus — BOULENGER 1885: 320 Varanus (Varanus) giganteus — MERTENS 1942 Varanus giganteus — STORR 1980: 254 Varanus giganteus — COGGER 1983 Titanzius giganteus — WELLS & WELLINGTON 1985: 22 Varanus giganteus — DE LISLE 1996: 125 Varanus giganteus — COGGER 2000: 362 Varanus giganteus — WILSON & SWAN 2010 Varanus (Varanus) giganteus — BUCKLITSCH et al. 2016: 50
Distribution	Australia (Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia) Type locality: N coast of Australia
Reproduction	oviparous
Types	Holotype: BMNH 1.22a
Diagnosis	Diagnosis: A very large ground monitor (up to 2 m long) with tail strongly compressed, back with transverse rows of large pale spots, and under surface with a dark reticulum. Further distinguishable from V. gouldii, V. panoptes and V. rosenbergi by the narrow parallel-sided snout, nostril about twice as far from orbit as snout, and more numerous midbody scale rows and subdigital lamellae. (Storr 1980: 254)
Comment
Etymology	Presumably named after the Greek gigas (giant), referring to the very large size of the species. (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 Böhme,W. 2003. Checklist of the living monitor lizards of the world (family Varanidae). Zoologische Verhandelingen 341: 6-43 - 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 Bredl, J. & Horn, H.-G. 1987. Über die Nachzucht des australischen Riesenwarans Varanus giganteus (GRAY 1845) (Sauria: Varanidae). Salamandra 23 (2-3): 90-96 - 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 Gray, J. E. 1845. Catalogue of the specimens of lizards in the collection of the British Museum. Trustees of die British Museum/Edward Newman, London: xxvii + 289 pp. - get paper here Horn, H.-G. & Visser, G. J. 1988. Freilandbeobachtungen und einige morphometrische Angaben zu Varanus giganteus (GRAY 1845). Salamandra 24 (2-3): 102-118 - get paper here Houston, T. F. 1978. Dragon Lizards and Goannas of South Australia. Adelaide: South Australian Museum 84 pp. 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 Madonald, S. 2007. Observations on the stomach Contents of a road-killed perentie, Varanus giganteus in Western Queensland. Biawak 1 (1): 21-23 - get paper here Mertens, R. 1942. Die Familie der Warane (Varanidae), 3. Teil: Taxonomie. Abh. Senckenb. naturf. Ges., 466: 235-391 Mertens, R. 1958. Bemerkungen über die Warane Australiens. Senckenbergiana biologica 39: 229-264 Moroa, Dorian & Isobel MacAulaya 2014. Computer-Aided Pattern Recognition of Large Reptiles as a Noninvasive Application to Identify Individuals. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science<br />17 (2): 125-135; DOI:10.1080/10888705.2014.883925 - get paper here PACKARD, GARY C. and THOMAS J. BOARDMAN 2009. Bias in interspeciﬁc allometry: examples from morphological scaling in varanid lizards. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2009, 96, 296–305. - get paper here Pianka, E. R. and D. R. King, eds. 2004. Varanoid Lizards of the World. Indiana University Press, 599 pp - get paper here Pianka, E.R. 2003. Australian Desert Varanids. Reptilia (GB) (30): 20-26 - get paper here Pianka, E.R. 2003. Die Warane der australischen Wüste. Reptilia (Münster) 8 (43): 29-35 - get paper here Rhind, D; Doody, J S; Clulow, S; Godwin, C; Bartek, B & Murray, C; 2019. Varanus giganteus (Perentie) Diet. Herpetological Review 50 (2): 382 - 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 Strimple, Peter D.;Strimple, Jane L. 1996. Australia's largest goanna: the perentie. Reptiles 4 (2): 76-87 Wilson, S. & Swan, G. 2010. A complete guide to reptiles of Australia, 3rd ed. Chatswood: New Holland, 558 pp.
External links	IUCN Red List National Center for Biotechnology Information http://www.kingsnake.com/oz/lizards/monitors/monitors.htm http://www.amonline.net.au/herpetology/research/pdf/varanidae.pdf http://monitor-lizards.net/species/index.html http://www.reptilespark.com/home/varanus/x.htm http://www.arod.com.au/arod/reptilia/Squamata/Varanidae/Varanus/giganteus Google images

Is it interesting? Share with others:

As link to this species use URL address:

https://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Varanus&species=giganteus

without field 'search_param'. Field 'search_param' is used for browsing search result.

Please submit feedback about this entry to the curator