REPTILIA: SQUAMATA: VARANIDAE: Varanus

Varanus rudicollis Author and date

Roughneck monitor

Text by Dr. Robert Sprackland.

under construction

 
Photo by John Tashjian.

Range: The southeastern Asian peninsula, from Myanmar (Burma) south to Sumatra, east to Borneo and the southern Philippines.

Diagnosis: A long-snouted black monitor with greatly enlarged, keeled neck scales, a long slit-like nostril, and a short body.

Description:

Natural History: Rough necked monitors are highly specialized arboreal lizards that are only rarely found near the ground. Their thin, long digits and razor-sharp claws allow even large specimens to navigate tree limbs with ease. 

The diet consists primarily of large insects (such as stick insects, beetles, and locusts) as well as tree centipedes and sometimes small vertebrates and their eggs.

Reproduction: An egg layer. Juveniles are more conspicuously banded than adults, and may sport yellow, cream, pale orange, or pale green markings.

Juvenile roughneck monitor. Photo by Dr. Robert Sprackland.

Taxonomy & Relationships:

Variation:

Additional Comments: For some reason this sleek, elongated, black species is frequently confused with the stout, blunt-nosed, brown Varanus dumerilii by both amateur and professional herpetologists.

Type Specimen:

Literature: click on book to order.  

Chan-ard, Tanya, Wolfgang Grossman, Andreas Gumprecht and Klaus-Dieter Schulz. 1999. Amphibians and reptiles of peninsular Malaysia and Thailand, an illustrated checklist. In English & German. Bushmaster Publications. ISBN: 3-9806813-0-0.

Eidenmüller, Bernd. 1997. Warane: Lebensweise, Pflege, Zucht. Herpeton, Offenbach. In German. ISBN: 3-9802892-7-3. 

Manthey, Ulrich and Wolfgang Grossman. 1997. Amphibien & Reptilien Südostasiens. In German. Natur und Tier Verlag. ISBN: 3-931587-12-6.