Timor monitor lizard
| Timor monitor lizard | ||||||||||||
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Timor monitor lizard |
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| Varanus timorensis | ||||||||||||
| Gray , 1831 |
The Timor monitor lizard ( Varanus timorensis ) is a species of scale reptiles (Squamata) from the genus of monitor lizards ( Varanus ). The first description was in 1831 by John Edward Gray .
features
The Timor monitor lizard usually reaches a length of around 60 cm, the heaviest specimen weighed 290 g. The tail is 1.37 to 1.76 times as long as the head-torso length and round in cross-section. The gray to black top of the body shows white to yellowish eye spots with a dark center, which are arranged differently depending on the specimen and are only indistinctly developed in some specimens. A faint longitudinal line delimits the white side of the abdomen. The limbs are speckled with whitish.
Occurrence
The Timor monitor lizard lives on the Southeast Asian island of Timor and the neighboring smaller islands of Sawu and Semau . Originally he lived in the forests of the islands, but these have been cleared in many regions of Timor. Here the monitor lizards now prefer to inhabit stone walls, palm trees and other remaining trees. They are most common up to 50 m above sea level , the highest confirmed occurrence was 700 m above sea level.
Way of life
The species is diurnal and lives both on trees and on the ground. During the hot lunchtime, the Timor dragons look for shelter. They prefer to sunbathe on stone walls and rock formations and look for prey there or in remaining forest and thickets. The stomachs of museum specimens mainly contained insects , but also spiders , geckos , scorpions and a blind snake . In the terrarium animals kept the usual take food insects and young mice, fish and eggs on. The breeding season is between May and July; Females living in captivity lay two to twelve eggs, from which the young hatch after 93 to 186 days. They are 14 to 17.4 cm long when hatched.
Only the tick species Aponomma soambawensis is known to be a parasite of wild Timor lizards .
Systematics
No holotype is given in the first description .
In the middle of the 20th century, Robert Mertens distinguished the three subspecies V. t. scalaris (1941), V. t. similis (1958) and the nominate form V. t. timorensis . He did this on the assumption that the range of the Timor dragon extends from the Lesser Sunda Islands to Australia . After 1958 he alternately saw one subspecies in the species rank, while he continued to regard the other as a subspecies. Today both Varanus similis and Varanus scalaris are considered as independent species based on comparisons of the scaling ( pholidosis ) and DNA analyzes (Ast 2001) . In 1999 Robert Sprackland described the putative population of Varanus timorensis on Roti as Varanus auffenbergi . The validity of the species is questioned, according to Wolfgang Böhme, specific species differences to Varanus timorensis have yet to be demonstrated. The other island populations also show noticeable differences, but are currently still consistently referred to as Varanus timorensis .
Timor dragons as pets
Due to its small size, the Timor monitor is one of the more popular monitors in terraristics , but is considered to be comparatively shy. The species should be kept in a spacious forest terrarium. The offspring in captivity has been successful several times. According to the records of the CITES authorities, 7,937 live specimens were exported for the animal trade between 1975 and 2005, placing the Timor monitor lizard in fifth place among the monitor lizards. Illegally exported and unregistered exports are not included, so the actual number could be higher. This is likely to have a noticeably negative impact on the population, but no population data is available and the species has no entry in the IUCN's Red List of Threatened Species ( not evaluated ).
swell
literature
- DR King & LA Smith: Varanus timorensis . In: ER Pianka & DR King (Eds.): Varanoid Lizards of the World . Indiana University Press, Bloomington & Indianapolis 2004, pp. 275-278 ISBN 0253343666
- M. Rogner: Lizards 2 . Eugen Ulmer Verlag, Stuttgart 1994, p. 33f. ISBN 3-8001-7253-4
Individual evidence
- ↑ Wolfgang Böhme: Checklist of the living monitor lizards of the world (family Varanidae). Zool. Verh. Leiden, 341, 2003 ( online )
- ↑ AP Pernetta (2009): Monitoring the Trade: Using the CITES Database to Examine the Global Trade in Live Monitor Lizards (Varanus spp.) . Biawak 3 (2), pp. 37–45 ( full text ; PDF; 2.0 MB)
