Kings monitor lizard
| Kings monitor lizard | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Kings monitor lizard ( Varanus kingorum ) |
||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Varanus kingorum | ||||||||||||
| Storr , 1980 |
Kings' Monitor ( Varanus kingorum ), alternatively Kings Felswaran , is a kind of Squamata (squamates) from the genus of lizards ( Varanus ). It lives in northeast Australia , is one of the smallest monitor lizards and feeds on small insects . The species was named in honor of the unrelated herpetologists Max King and R. Dennis King .
features
Kings monitor lizard is a very small species of monitor lizard. 5 specimens preserved in museums have head-body lengths of 6.7–11.4 cm (on average ~ 10 cm), the tail lengths range from 20–27 cm. The tail length is on average 2.3 times the length of the head and torso, so the tail is proportionally very long for monitor lizards. The claws of the king monitor lizard are short, thick and curved. The tail is laterally compressed close to the base in cross section, almost triangular in the middle length and elliptical towards the end. The scales of the tail are strongly keeled.
King's monitor lizard is red-brown, and this basic color is interspersed with dark brown to black markings. The underside of the body is yellow-brown to white and shows dark markings, especially on the throat. It can be distinguished from other, sympatric monitor lizards by its small size and relatively long tail.
distribution
Kings monitor lizard is only known from a small area in the west of Kimberley . The species is most common in the eastern part of its range (extreme northeast of Western Australia ). From Wyndham in the south the range extends north to Turkey Creek, and Turkey vom Creek as the westernmost limit of the range to Timber Creek in the Northern Territory , the easternmost known site. The monitor lizards inhabit sandy soils overgrown with eucalyptus or tropical savannah. Rocks or rock formations are important for the Kings Waran.
Way of life
Like all monitor lizards, Kings Waran is diurnal. He is soil and rock-dwelling, and uses crevices as a shelter. Little is known about other aspects of the way of life in nature.
Animals kept in terrariums went hunting on sandy soils next to their shelters; in nature they probably hunt on the rocks and in their surroundings. The stomach contents of 3 caught specimens were examined and only insects were confirmed as prey. Half of the stomach contents made Spring locusts , which further proportions were 25% blattids , 12.5% termites and 12.5% insect eggs.
The reproduction of King's monitor lizard is also insufficiently investigated. Specimens kept in museums and found in February showed signs of reproductive activity (e.g. germ cell production ), so in the wild the breeding season is in the rainy season. Kings monitor lizards laid 3–6 eggs in ground nests and tunnels under rocks (Eidenmüller 2001). The females produced 2 clutches within 2–3 months. The pups hatched at an incubation temperature of 27–29 ° C after 97–119 days. They were on average 13.5 cm long and 1.5-2.1 g in weight. The tails of the young animals were proportionally shorter with a ratio of 1.7 to the head-torso length than in the adult animals.
swell
- M. King (2004): Varanus kingorum . In: ER Pianka & DR King (Eds.): Varanoid Lizards of the World , pp. 406-409. Indiana University Press, Bloomington & Indianapolis. ISBN 0253343666
